Memorials

Types of Memorials

Throughout history we read about the plethora of memorials that have been erected to remind of significant events that made an impact at that point in time and decades or centuries later.

Jordan River Memorial

Joshua 4:1–7 NIV84

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

Joshua 4:1-7

Last Supper Memorial

Luke 22:19 NIV84

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Luke 22:19

Vietnam Memorial

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a 2-acre (8,000 m²) U.S. national memorial in Washington D.C. It honors service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and those service members who were unaccounted for (missing in action, MIA) during the war.

1-228 AVN Battalion Memorial

Mark 14:9 NIV84

I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

A question for us to think about is, what legacy or memorial are each of us leaving for our families, in our units here at Soto Cano AB or back at our home station, here in Honduras or CENTAM?

Our text today speaks of a woman whose act of worship toward Jesus, though minor and expensive in the eyes of man, was so significant in the eyes of Christ that the Holy Spirit ensured that what Jesus said about her would be remembered for centuries to come.

Mark begins by describing in vv 1-2 that Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days aways.

This is important because you may remember that the Passover Feast is memorializing the fact that no Israelite first born died in Egypt the night that the spirit of death went house by house throughout Egypt taking the life of every first born child, no matter what age, in judgement against the Pharaoh and the god’s the Egyptians worshipped.

This is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is the flat bread the Israelites ate that same night of the Passover.

Mark continues describing that the chief priests and the teachers of the law, continued looking for a sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. But they didn’t want to it during the Feast, in others words publically, since during this time of the year many Jews, from around the then known world would travel to Jerusalem to participate in the Feast and they did not want a riot to form ruining the Feast. This, of course, ending up not being the case.

In a way there is some sarcasm in these two verses. While in the minds of the chief priests and the teachers of the law killing Jesus was warranted because Jesus had blasphemed by claiming to be God, yet because they had missed the many prophesies that pointed to Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, in the eyes of God they were plotting murder.

This is the total of opposite of what the woman did to Christ in the scene that follows. What the priests and the teachers of the law could not see in Jesus, the woman clearly saw; she knew he was the Messiah as evidenced by his authoritative teaching, by the miracles he performed and by his love and compassion.

In light of her discovery, let’s look at three things she challenges us with today. She leaves us: A Memorial of Faith, A Memorial of Fearlessness, A Memorial Feat

A Memorial of Faith

According to the New American Commentary, “the presence of the unnamed woman was most unusual; Jewish women did not ordinarily attend banquets with men except in the capacity of servants.”

So according to that culture, he actions were outrageous. Whatever she had heard from or about Christ and seen him do, it produced a confidence in her that Jesus is the Son of the Living God.

The presence of the unnamed woman was most unusual; Jewish women did not ordinarily attend banquets with men except in the capacity of servants. The “alabaster jar” was a flask with a long neck and no handles, and it was sealed to preserve the ointment. The fact that the woman broke the flask implies that she poured all of its contents on Jesus. “Nard” was an aromatic oil extracted from a root found primarily in India—thus its costliness. The word translated “pure” may be related to a word meaning faithful or genuine, as the NIV seems to indicate. It could also be derived from a Greek word meaning liquid or an Aramaic one meaning pistachio nut. The oil of this nut was used as a base for perfumes.

Hence she was compelled to approach him as says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...”

says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

And that is exactly how this woman approached Christ, with full assurance of faith that he would not turn her away because he could see what was in her heart, unlike the rest of those who were present.

She may have approached Christ in this bold way because she needed a healing or because of some blessing Jesus had already given her, and this was her way of showing gratitude. The bottom line is that she approached him knowing that she would be criticized by some of those were present.

Like the song that says,

When I look into your holiness

And I gaze into you loveliness

When all things that surround become shadows in the light of you

She zeroed in on Christ and nothing else mattered.

What are the barriers keeping you and me from living a life of faith and total trust in Christ. What has God been asking you to do and you have hesitated to follow through.

Many of our men and woman in the armed forces have paid the ultimate price believing in freedom and justice for all. They believed with securing liberties to ourselves and our posterity.

How about us, will we approach God in full assurance of faith, so that we may leave a memorial of faith that those around us may be inspired by and emulate.

A Memorial of Fearlessness

To the woman, this may have been a once in a lifetime opportunity. And it was. So she took it. She did not cower out.

There, in front of these other men reclining at the table she approaches Christ.

Dr. Ed Welch, who earned a Master of Divinity and a PH.D. in counseling neuropsychology from the university of Utah, writes in one of his books, “whatever wins our affections will control our lives.”

While the men at the table were concerned about being in the “in” crowd, this woman’s affections were focused on Christ the savior, healer and forgiver of sins.

This woman was living in that moment what the Apostle Paul declared in , , , “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Like that final lap in our PT test where many of us speed up and strain toward the finish line with a laser focus, this woman did the same. She was being led by the Holy Spirit to perform a task and nothing was going to deter her from completing her mission.

A memorial of fearlessness. That is also what our fellow service members, who have gone before us and their families, have left for us. Let us not let them down.

, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

What about us? Are we still so worried about what others’ think about us that we denounce Christ in order to be accepted by the “in” crowd. Or are we growing in our affections toward Christ so that the Holy Spirit is controlling our lives.

A Memorial Feat

A Memorial of Faith; A Memorial of Fearlessness; finally A Memorial Feat

A Memorial Feat

Again, The New American Commentary describes the alabaster jar and its contents this way, “[it] was a flask with a long neck and no handles, and it was sealed to preserve the ointment. The fact that the woman broke the flask implies that she poured all of its contents on Jesus. “Nard” was an aromatic oil extracted from a root found primarily in India—thus its costliness. The word translated “pure” may be related to a word meaning faithful or genuine, as the NIV seems to indicate. It could also be derived from a Greek word meaning liquid or an Aramaic one meaning pistachio nut. The oil of this nut was used as a base for perfumes.”

The “alabaster jar” was a flask with a long neck and no handles, and it was sealed to preserve the ointment. The fact that the woman broke the flask implies that she poured all of its contents on Jesus. “Nard” was an aromatic oil extracted from a root found primarily in India—thus its costliness. The word translated “pure” may be related to a word meaning faithful or genuine, as the NIV seems to indicate. It could also be derived from a Greek word meaning liquid or an Aramaic one meaning pistachio nut. The oil of this nut was used as a base for perfumes.

The “alabaster jar” was a flask with a long neck and no handles, and it was sealed to preserve the ointment. The fact that the woman broke the flask implies that she poured all of its contents on Jesus. “Nard” was an aromatic oil extracted from a root found primarily in India—thus its costliness. The word translated “pure” may be related to a word meaning faithful or genuine, as the NIV seems to indicate. It could also be derived from a Greek word meaning liquid or an Aramaic one meaning pistachio nut. The oil of this nut was used as a base for perfumes.

So, unlike the hypocrisy of those complaining that the expensive perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor, she who was poor in spirit was more faithful and genuine in her heart and it showed itself in her actions.

As those in India were faithful and genuine in making the perfume with unadulterated nard, she was faithful and genuine to perform this feat against all odds.

Christ was also faithful and genuine, performing the feat of all feats, being nailed to the cross in our behalf so that as we look upon him we might say as John, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.”

Not only did Christ memorialize this woman’s deed, but he said, “she did what she could.” This could also be stated as “she did what she could with what she had” or “she gave all that she had.” I would say it was all of the above.

May we live for the Lord giving him all that we have, doing what we can with what we have. The Lord will do amazing things with what we have.

However long it took her to accomplish her mission she did it despite the ridicule and push back from those at the table.

, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

In other words, let’s not seek to the selfish things of the world, let’s give ourselves to Christ and be used of by him to leave a mark genuine

What memorial will you leave behind?