Jesus Christ symbolises many things in the scriptures. One of the most poignant is the full essence of Jesus as our Passover. The Passover began in the Old Testament (Exodus Chapter 12). It was to stand as a symbol of deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, just as man’s greatest deliverance occurred when the power of sin is broken in a person’s life.
Before the deliverance of the children of Israel, God gave them the plan of redemption. They were commanded to sacrifice a lamb and apply the blood on the lintel of their houses. This was intended to avert the judgment that was to come on the whole land of Egypt.
They obeyed God expressly, and remained indoors in their houses that had been delineated by the mark of the blood of the lamb. In the event, they were all preserved under the protection of the blood. In all the houses of the Egyptians where there was no mark of the blood, there was death of the first-born. Even the first born of all their animals also died. It was a clear reminder to mankind of the wrath and judgment of God that would fall upon the entire world because of sin. But it is not going to be all gloom and doom because God has made an unimpeachable provision of redemption for anyone who desires to escape His impending judgment.
From that period onwards, the children of Israel were required to observe the commemoration of the Passover to serve as a solemn reminder of their redemption, which they observed by eating the flesh of the animal sacrificed, without leaving anything overnight. They ate the meat with unleavened bread.
Prior to the last Passover towards the end of Christ’s ministry on earth, He was in a house where a woman came and poured an alabaster box of expensive perfumed oil upon Him. Unbeknown to the woman, she was doing this in preparation for Christ’s death and burial for the redemption of humanity. During that period of preparation, Christ warned His disciples that He would suffer betrayal and that it would be perpetrated by one of them. He spoke about the person who would betray Him, but also pointed out the dire consequences that the culprit would face.
The lamb the children of Israel were commanded to use for the Passover was without blemish, spot or deformity. It pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ who was sinless, spotless and holy within and without. The “ointment of spikenard,” which the woman poured on the head of Jesus was “very precious.” Even at that time, it cost a princely sum of “three hundred pence.” This is a staggering amount of money if you only recall that the daily wage of workers at that time was a penny per day. It means then that the cost of the ointment was equivalent to a worker’s wage for 300 days, or nearly a year. This partly explains why some of His disciples were unhappy at what they considered a “waste,” probably concluding that what the woman lavished on Jesus Christ was too much to be expended on the Lord. They felt the precious ointment should have been sold and the proceeds “given to the poor.” They were inadvertently and unconscionably, elevating the poor above the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And they murmured against her.” However, Jesus commended the woman for what they complained about; for He said that, “she hath wrought a good work on me.” He also reminded them of His death, burial and resurrection, and that they would always have the poor with them to take care of, “but me ye have not always.” Although Christ was soon to face the horrific experience of the cross, He still took care to emphasise to His disciples the need for the “gospel being preached throughout the whole world.”
Then putting the woman’s action in proper perspective, Jesus declared that from then on, wherever the gospel is proclaimed, “this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”
The stage was clearly set for the chain of events that would culminate in the redemption of mankind. Jesus Christ was to be arrested by craft. The “chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death” because He did “many miracles” and they did not want “all men to believe on him.” Their plan to arrest Jesus was also politically motivated because they feared “the Romans would come and take away both (their) place and nation.”
Caiaphas the high priest prophesied unknowingly “that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only.” Besides, the counsel to put Jesus to death “by subtlety” had been prophesied; therefore, it did not come as a surprise to the Lord. Those who operate by craft like the scribes and get others into trouble would end up in the same destination.
The woman who anointed Jesus acted out of so much love for the Lord. Her action was in sharp constraint to “some that had indignation within themselves” because they considered the anointing a waste. They disregarded what Jesus had done, which no man or nation had ever done for them. Similarly, there are people today, who would consider our decision to consecrate our all to the Lord as a waste of life, talent or ability. Thank God the woman did not discontinue because some persons did not agree with her sacrificial giving. Likewise, we must not stop giving our costly service and love to the Lord, no matter whatever other people may think or say. Eternity will reveal that we were wiser than them.
The Judases of the world – the backsliders and the prodigals who have gone to a far country, implicitly and explicitly – will not agree with us. All they think about is the world and the need of the hour. But “We are bought with a price: therefore,(we must) glorify God in (our) body, and in (our) spirit, which are God’s.” Christ left His throne and majesty above to suffer agony and make Himself the sacrifice for sin so that we would be reconciled to God and be saved. If He has done so much for us, His love constrains us to pour our own ointment of appreciation and devotion on Him, by giving Him our lives and the precious things we own, and fulfilling the mandate of spreading His good news everywhere.
• Further Reading (King James Version): Mark 14:1-21. Mark 14:1-9. Mark 14:1,2; John 11:47-53; Psalm 2:1-5; Matthew 26:1-5. Mark 14:3-5; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15. Mark 14:6-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18,23,24; Romans 5:8,11; 1 John 2:1,2.
