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Read Mark 14:1-11
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1 It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people." 3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, "Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor." And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her." 10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.
Mark uses the Passover as the time marker for the events in today’s reading, and because of that, it serves as the backdrop for understanding what is going on. The first Passover was marked by lambs without defect being killed and their blood spread on doorposts. The Lord’s plague of death to the firstborn would not be carried out in that household, but instead would “pass over” that house.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. What the religious leaders plot and plan because of their hatred for Jesus, our Lord prepares for because it has been God’s plan all along in order to bring salvation. They want to kill him, he plans on being the final sacrifice, and now he has even been anointed for burial. During this holy week as we remember the final days leading up to our Lord’s death, we do so with hearts sorrowed by what our Lord endured, but thankful for his great love.
Prayer
Lamb of God, thank you for giving your life in order to redeem me a lost and condemned person. Amen.