Defending Extravagance

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“The master is here and he calls for you specifically”
I stand up immediately and follow Martha. I had waited for this moment, rehearsed my lines, carefully chose and arranged the words with which I would let my disappointment show. My hopes had been terribly dashed by this Master. I had seen him do amazing extraordinary things, heard of his works and heard His words. I had experienced the warmth of his love on a very personal level and this fueled my hopes that when my brother, whom he also loved dearly, fell sick he would suspend all he had to do to be here. To save him.

I wipe tears from the corner of my eyes. It hurts to wipe them. Four days of crying had gifted me swollen eyes and it hurt to touch them. “He’s the ressurrection and the life, why, why did he keep this life away when we needed it the most?!” Martha’s words from last night echoes in my head as I walk behind her. I ignore the people following us, not saying a word to anyone or answering their unspoken questions. They have no idea where I am going and I’m in no mood to explain. Martha had informed me of the master’s invitation in hushed tones.

I pick my pace as I sight the place where he stands. Fresh pain sweeps across my chest, possible scenarios of how this day would have been if this master had come four days earlier play through my mind. Lazarus would have been here, among these men surrounding him, hearing him. Each step is painful, filled with agony. He looks at me and my knees tremble and I fall at his feet. The compassion in his eyes confuse me. How can you love someone and hurt them so?. But I’m in no mood for questions. I’m here for another reason.

With all the accusation I can muster into my voice, I say ” Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died”. Fresh , raw pain rises from my bowels, takes a firm grip on my throat, tearing it’s way up in loud sobs. I give in to the agony. My tear glands corporate also, donating a flood of tears. I hear the people who had followed me weeping also. Their tears feed mine and mine theirs until the very air is charged with molecules of mourning.

The master sighs. A troubled sigh. I’m still on my knees, at his feet. This place he had once commended me for, but this time it’s different.

“Where have you kept him?”
I’m startled by his question. I follow dumbly as we walk to where my brother lay. I watch everything as in a daze, the master asking for the stone to be rolled away, Martha arguing that the body would stink terribly and the master emphasizing that believing him leads to seeing the glory of God.

The air stinks, just as Martha had said it would. The master is raising his hands now. The air still stinks but something different wraps around the atmosphere as the master prays to his father. Silence sweeps through the crowd. The air holds still. The Master’s voice breaks through the shield of silence, bounces through each molecule of oxygen and hydrogen until it lands in the tomb where my brother lay. Lazarus comes out. All bound. How did he walk?

I’m too dazed to reason. Too shocked to brainstorm. Fresh tears fill my eyes as understanding dawn on me. In this moment of witnessing the present tense of the Master’s personality. I too have walked out of my tomb of unbelief. I who sat at the Master’s feet and was commended for choosing the better thing, I had missed it. The Master is the resurrection and the life. Is. Not was not will be. He is.

I weep again as my sin of unbelief stares me in the face. I make a decision to believe him from now on. To never again doubt or interpret his words to suit my understanding. He meant what he said and I will take his words Literally!


I see him seated at the table, the expression on his face that of one who was enjoying his meal. I shut my eyes as I imagine how that face will look stonecold and dead. I open my eyes. It’s no use fighting it, if he said he would be killed, then he would.

I disappear back into the room. If I could give him my life, I would. I reach for my clothes drawer and pull out my alabaster box. Touching it reminds me of Solomon’s temple, it’s the same stone. Although costly, its price is nothing compared to the price of the oil inside it.

I move towards him. I had played this scene over and again in my head. I would make him, my master, the best smelling corpse in the history of corpses. The last time we met, I displayed such unbelief that troubled him. As I kneel, I quietly hope this shows him I believe. I have faith in his words. He means what he says, difficult to accept that he would die, but I believe him.

I break open the box. The gasps above me and around the room informs me the scent is recognized. They know it’s pure nard. His feet has dust in them. It reminds me that he is as human as me and just as he can be drenched in earth’s dust, he can also die. Imagining him dead brings fresh tears to my eyes. I weep for him, his death and for me, my great unbelief all along.

I can’t pour oil in tears so I wipe them off his feet with my hair. Dried, I pour the oil on his feet. Its redness reminds me of blood. Will he bleed before dying? I shut my eyes, trying to savour the moment. Surprised screams and an upset voice steal the sacredness of the moment.

“What waste?!!!! We should have sold this oil and helped a million poor people!”
He is right. But he doesn’t get it. I hear the master sigh. In my defense he says “You always have the poor with you, but I won’t always be here. She’s preparing me for my burial”

Warmth hits my heart and spreads all over me. He gets it. He gets I believe. I believe him. But the tears keep flowing. I love this man. I raise my head and our eyes meet. We both hold an unspoken understanding that this is true , this will happen. He will die. For me.

Matthew 26:6-13 Mark 14:2-9. John 12:1-8.

16 COMMENTS

  1. Oh Lord!

    I felt chills run over me reading this,my eyes stinking with tears…

    I felt the pain of her thoughts; beating herself for ever doubting Him. I felt the pain thinking of the times I myself have doubted Him. But He’s always Faithful, too Faithful to fail and He has always come through…Always!

    He means every Word He says, and yes I will take it Literally!

    The pain she must have felt knowing He was going to die! I have never thought of that before… Knowing that someone you love will die and there’s nothing you can do. Not wanting Him to die, but knowing His dying will bring you better. Because Jesus being born and doing miracles was not beneficial to me as much as Him dying.His death brought me into peace with God, guaranteeing and securing my Salvation and Eternal Life Hallelujah! But the pain that must have been felt knowing He was dying…such a good man; it must have been heart wrecking and Mercy, you made me feel a sense of that pain…

    His love is real, pure, genuine. Sometimes, just like the lady with the Alabaster box, I want to give everything i have of value to Him and yet I know it can never be enough for all He did, all He’s done. Because of Him I am Justified.Me like this; Justified! Not just Justified, but Glorified, Seated with Him with no Condemnation… Roman 8:1

    What a God! What a love!!

    Thank you Mercy. How you put words to these story can only be From the Spirit Mind and you have the Spirit for it is only the Spirit of a man that knows their though ( 1 Corinthians 2:11)

    I love you girl. Keep being Jesus Girl

    • Momma. This comment holds deep lessons of its own. And I’m blessed reading it. Thank you for sharing.

      Thank you for loving on me. Reading my work. It’s thrilling to know you had a great time reading this. ❤️

  2. Very deep. I went through every emotion, like it was me❤️❤️. God bless you. My desire for writing is rekindled again. Thank you

  3. I just didn’t want to say a thing but thought otherwise – for to say, “let the comments of them that appreciate these written rhemas of yours be what Abba use to spur the encouragement within your spirit should you be tempted by the tempest at anytime not to continue on this path on which you shine to the perfect day.”

    That is because, as I read this piece, the negative things some people say of the natives of Akwa Ibom State crossed my mind, but it didn’t make me sad but glad to know that should Nathan ask “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” he has an answer waiting for him.

    More grace to you the writer after my heart.

  4. This is so insightful, reading this just brings me the awareness that before He died He was man and he might have been afraid to die but yet He did anyways to set me free yet I doubt him, help my unbelief dear Jesus, this life needs your unending presence ….

  5. This is the first time I have subscribed to a blog without thinking twice! Gurrrrl! I love how you love “my Jesus”. Keep being His girl.
    This was a beautiful one. The use of words… it was not only Lazarus that came to life that day… beautiful!

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