Holy Week Prophecies: Prepared for Burial
Midweek Lent IV – Pr. Peter Faugstad Homily
St. Matthew 26:6-13
Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to Him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to Me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have Me. In pouring this ointment on My body, she has done it to prepare Me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” (ESV)
Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, our merciful Savior, grant, we humbly ask You, that our souls may be profited by devout meditation on Your holy Passion. Fill our hearts with Your Holy Spirit, that, like [the woman at] Bethany, we may with a humble and contrite heart seek and find comfort in Your love, and present to You as an acceptable offering the willing service of our lives…. Bless us through the remembrance of Your Passion, for Your holy name’s sake, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever. Amen. (The Lutheran Liturgy, p. 106)