Mark 14:3, ‘While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head.’
V 8 She has done what she could.
Ephesians 5:1, ‘Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.’
In Ephesians we read , ‘Christ loved you and gave Himself up for us an offering and sacrifice to God as fragrant aroma ; In Mark says the woman, ‘She broke the vial and poured it over His head’ – both tells us how this became a fragrant aroma to the Lord. In this same way, we also need to be broken. There is a costly, expensive perfume within us, it cannot come out without being broken. God wants us to manifest the life of Jesus, in us through the brokenness. Brokenness is the pathway to manifest the life of Jesus, then only we can be fragrant aroma to the Lord.
Lord Jesus said to them, ‘She has done what she could’, when the woman broke the vial. The Lord appreciated her as her love towards the Lord was great.
Lord Jesus loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. His love was great.
We need to be a fragrant aroma to the Lord through brokenness. We can do many activities and services to the Lord but it is most necessary that we give ourselves to the Lord, as a living sacrifice.
The woman out of her maximum love, she did it for the Lord , that become a fragrant aroma to Lord.
Romans 12:1, ‘Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.’
2 Corinthians 2:15, ‘For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;’
Our lives need to be a fragrance of Christ, spreading in three directions – to our God, to the believers in the Church and to the other unbelievers.
Psalms 51:17, ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.’
We cannot be a fragrance to God, unless we are broken.
Isaiah 53:10, ‘But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.’
It was God’s will and it pleased Him to crush Him. When we live in this pathway of brokenness, we will be a fragrant aroma to our Lord. We see in the Scriptures that God used His servants through many ways of brokenness. God allowed them to go through different breaking processes, like – Moses, Jacob, Peter; because God wanted to use them. We need to be broken.
What we must do to be broken?
Jeremiah 4:3, ‘For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,
“Break up your fallow ground,
And do not sow among thorns.’
NLT, ‘This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
“Plow up the hard ground of your hearts!
Do not waste your good seed among thorns.’
The hard ground of our hearts needs to be broken. The good seeds which are there in our hearts; are not producing fruit in our hearts because the ground is still strong and stubborn. We are not broken completely as there are still some unbroken grounds in us. God will show us our unbroken areas in our lives; so that God can change this fallow ground into a beautiful and fruitful garden! This is the purpose of our God in our lives; so, He can use this fallow ground and waste this fallow ground, so that we become broken and become a fragrant aroma!
John 12:24, ‘I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.’
We need to die to our self of and be broken so that the seeds in our hearts become fruitful and the life of Jesus may be manifested in our lives!
2 Corinthians 4:10, ‘Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.’
Galatians 2:20, ‘My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’.
‘I’ needs to be broken! Our Pride, jealousy, unforgiveness, self-centeredness, grumbling spirit – all these needs to be broken; all these unbroken stones need to be broken. God will show us the areas we need to be broken, so we can manifest His nature in our lives, so we can become a beautiful garden for Him, for His glory.
Exodus 17:6, ‘I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.’
God asked Moses to ‘strike the rock and the water comes gushing out’. The rock was smitten and the water came out. In the same way, our hard ground of heart needs to be broken so that the rivers of living water will flow out from our lives. Let us submit our lives to our God and ask God to show us the unbroken areas in our lives, so that we can become a fragrant aroma to our God and to everyone around us – to those who are saved and to those who are perishing!
The woman out of her maximum love did what she could do; the fragrant aroma to the Lord. Jesus also out of His maximum love for us, gave Himself for us, as a fragrant aroma to our Lord. Let us also submit ourselves to be a fragrant aroma to our God. May the life of Jesus, which is the fragrant aroma in us, be manifested in our lives, through brokenness.
Praise God.
