Extravagant - (ĭk-străvˈə-gənt)
Going beyond reasonable limits; excessive or unrestrained
- Webster's
New World College Dictionary
Exceeding reasonable
bounds; extremely abundant; profuse - American Heritage Dictionary 4
Devotion – (dĭ-vōˈshən)
Loyalty
or deep affection - Webster's
New World College Dictionary
Ardent,
often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle - American Heritage Dictionary 4
Luke 7:36-50 tells us the story of Jesus’ visit to the Pharisee’s
house.
36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him.
And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when
she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster
flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began
to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her
head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself,
saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him,
for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something
to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” 41 “There
was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the
other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave
them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”
And He said to him, “You have rightly
judged.” 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I
entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My
feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to
kiss My feet since the time I came in.46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has
anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for
she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves
little.” 48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say
to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved
you. Go in peace.”
Jesus was invited ostensibly for a meal, but the real reason was
so they could figure out a way to bring charges against Him and have Him
killed. They did not welcome Him with a kiss or wash His feet when he entered
the house as was the custom in those days. However, this woman with a tender
heart full of repentance and love subjected herself to ridicule by entering, uninvited,
just to somehow be near Jesus. She washed His feet not with water drawn from a
well, but with her tears. Imagine how she must have been crying to have enough
tears to wash the dirt from Jesus’ feet. She then dried His feet not with a
towel, but with the hair of her head, kissed them repeatedly and went one step
further by anointing them with expensive oil.
In John 12:1-8 we read that Mary, the sister of Martha and
Lazarus, showed extravagant devotion.
1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where
Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised
from the dead.2 There they made Him a
supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table
with Him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of
spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4 But one of His disciples,
Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred
denarii and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but
because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put
in it. 7 But
Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”
She anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive oil worth about a year’s
wages. She not only poured it out, she broke the jar to get every last drop. She
held nothing back. Not only did she give her most precious worldly possession
to Jesus, she then let her hair down and wiped His feet with it.
Because sandals were commonly worn and there were no paved roads
in those days, the feet would become dusty. So when guests would come to visit,
the lowest servant of the house would wash their feet as they entered the
house.
Mary not only put herself in the position of the lowest servant,
but she further humbled herself by letting her hair down and drying Jesus’ feet
with it.
When the time came, Jesus showed the ultimate extravagant devotion
by giving His life. But it wasn’t that simple. He did not just allow himself to
be killed immediately; He allowed Himself to be accused unjustly by the very
people He came to save and suffered a beating where his beard was torn from His
face. Then He allowed Himself to be judged unrighteously and condemned to death
by hanging on a cross * like a common criminal. He further subjected Himself to
scourging** and as if all of this was not enough, He allowed Himself to even be
separated from His Father. This last was the most important and the most
difficult. In order to fulfill His mission, Jesus had to take our sin upon
Himself. When He did this, God could no longer look at him. Because of God’s
holiness, Jesus could no longer be in the presence of the One He treasured
above all others. This showed His dedication to His disciples and His mission,
but even more it showed His extreme devotion to His Father. The pain of this
separation was worse than any indignity or physical abuse Jesus suffered at the
hand of those in this world.
Have you ever thought of loving anyone this much? Have you ever
thought of anyone loving you this much? Have you always thought this kind of
love was for anyone but you? Does your mind say you cannot be forgiven while
your heart longs for a relationship with Jesus?
The Bible says Jesus died for us ALL… that includes YOU. It took
me a long time to humbly count His sacrifice as done for me. Don’t let it take
you that long. Accept it. Let it humble your heart. Let God open your spiritual
eyes that you might be washed clean. From personal experience I can tell you
that this is a freedom you can experience no other way.
Riding the whirlwind of God’s grace, mercy and love…
Crucifixion is an ancient method of deliberately painful execution in which the condemned person is tied
or nailed to
a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead.
While a crucifixion was an execution, it was also a humiliation,
by making the condemned as vulnerable as possible. Although artists have
depicted the figure on a cross with a loin cloth or a covering of the genitals,
writings by Seneca the
Younger suggest that
victims were crucified completely nude.[18] When
the victim had to urinate or defecate, they had to do so in the open, in view
of passers-by, resulting in discomfort and the attraction of insects. Despite
its frequent use by the Romans, the horrors of crucifixion did not escape
mention by some of their eminent orators. Cicero for example, described crucifixion as
"a most cruel and disgusting punishment",[19] and suggested that "the very
mention of the cross should be far removed not only from a Roman citizen’s
body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears."[20]
Frequently, the legs of the person executed were
broken or shattered with an iron club, an act called crurifragium, which was also
frequently applied without crucifixion to slaves.[21] This
act hastened the death of the person but was also meant to deter those who observed the crucifixion
from committing offenses…
In popular depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus (possibly
because in translations of John 20:25 the wounds are described as being
"in his hands"), Jesus is shown with nails in his hands. But in Greek
the word "χείρ", usually translated as "hand", referred to
arm and hand together,[28] and to denote the hand as distinct from the arm some other word was added, as
"ἄκρην οὔτασε χεῖρα" (he wounded the end of the χείρ, i.e., he
wounded her hand).[29]
A possibility that does not require tying is that the
nails were inserted just above the wrist, between the two bones of the forearm
(the radius and
the ulna).[30]
An experiment that was the subject of a documentary on
the National
Geographic Channel's Quest
For Truth: The Crucifixion,[31] showed that a person can be suspended
by the palm of the hand. Nailing the feet to the side of the cross relieves
strain on the wrists by placing most of the weight on the lower body.
Another possibility, suggested by Frederick Zugibe, is that the nails may have
been driven in at an angle, entering in the palm in the crease that delineates
the bulky region at the base of the thumb, and exiting in the wrist, passing
through the carpal tunnel.
A foot-rest (suppedaneum) attached to the
cross, perhaps for the purpose of taking the person's weight off the wrists, is
sometimes included in representations of the crucifixion of Jesus, but is not
discussed in ancient sources. Some scholars interpret the Alexamenos
graffito, the earliest surviving depiction of the Crucifixion, as
including such a foot-rest.[32] Ancient sources also mention the sedile, a small seat attached
to the front of the cross, about halfway down,[33] which could have served a similar
purpose. A short upright spike or cornu might also be attached to the sedile, forcing the victim to
rest his or her perineum on the point of the device, or allow it to insert into
the anus or vagina.[18] These
devices were not an attempt to relieve suffering, but would prolong the process
of death. The cornu would also add considerably to the
pain and humiliation of crucifixion.
The length of time required to reach death could range from hours
to days depending on method, the victim's health, and the environment. Death
could result from any combination of causes, including blood loss resulting in hypovolemic shock, sepsis following infection due to the wounds
caused by the nails or by thescourging that sometimes preceded the
crucifixion, or eventual dehydration.[38][39]
A theory attributed to Pierre Barbet holds that, when the whole body weight
was supported by the stretched arms, the typical cause of death wasasphyxiation.[40] He conjectured that the condemned
would have severe difficulty inhaling, due to hyper-expansion of the chest
muscles and lungs. The condemned would therefore have to draw himself up by his
arms, leading to exhaustion, or have his feet supported by
tying or by a wood block. When no longer able to lift himself, the condemned
would die within a few minutes. Experiments by Frederick Zugibe have, however, revealed that, when
suspended with arms at 60° to 70° from the vertical, test subjects had no
difficulty breathing. Subjects did suffer rapidly increasing pain,[41][42] which is consistent with the Roman use
of crucifixion to achieve a prolonged, agonizing death. Legs were often broken
to hasten death through severe traumatic shock and fat embolism.
A scourge (from
Latin excoriare = "to flay" and corium =
"skin") is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong
type used to inflict severe corporal punishment orself-mortification on
the back.
Description
The
typical scourge (Latin: flagrum; Diminutive: flagellum)
has several thongs fastened to a handle; c.f. Scottishtawse (usually
two or three leather thongs without a separate handle); cat o' nine tails:
naval thick-rope knotted-end scourge, the army and civil prison versions
usually are leather.[1]
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