We will start Holy Week tomorrow. Each day will have:
Since Jewish tradition starts days at nightfall (such as their Sabbath is from Friday night at dusk until Saturday night at dusk), I have decided to include the dinner before Palm Sunday. Easter should be anticipated day of the year as it is the commemoration of the Savior's resurrection and therefore the fulfilling of the atonement and enabling us to live with God forever. Enjoy the spiritual journey as you prepare yourself for Easter and Conference next weekend.
The Anointing at Bethany
"John 12:1-9 recounts that Martha served a special dinner to Jesus, some of His disciples, and her brother, Lazarus, who had recently been raised from the dead, before the Master entered Jerusalem for His final week. During the course of the meal, Lazarus’s other sister, Mary, anointed Jesus’s feet. Judas Iscariot rebuked her for wasting the precious ointment in this way, but the Lord commended Mary, connecting this anointing with His coming death and burial. Matthew 20:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9 preserve a similar incident, which they place later in the week at the time Judas agreed with the Jewish leadership to betray the Savior.
In ancient Israel it was common to anoint bodies as part of burial rituals. The Hebrew word Messiah and the Greek word Christ both mean “the anointed one,” reflecting Jesus’s position through these titles. In earlier periods the Israelites also anointed living people to serve either as rightful kings or as high priests.
We, like the disciples, must come to know that Jesus is the Son of God and gain a testimony of what He did for us. As we reflect on the roles He played during the last week of His mortal life, we need to remember that as our Savior He is both a king and a priest." ~lds.org
Discussion:
1. What does anoint mean?
To apply oil or ointment to the head or the person. Anciently anointing was done for reasons both secular and sacred. It is a sign of hospitality, and of routine personal grooming. The maimed or sick were anointed with wine, oil, and/or ointment as medicine. The sick were also anointed with oil as part of the sacred procedure in healing of the sick by faith and the laying on of hands
2. What does spikenard mean?
The Greek word denotes pistic nard, pistic being perhaps a local name; some take it to mean genuine; others, liquid. Nard was made from the root of a tree, with a strong aromatic odor.
See article on the last week of Christ's life: http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=4a57eafcee340210VgnVCM100000176f620a____
Another resource- see pages 135-138: http://institute.lds.org/content/languages/english/Institute%20of%20Religion%20Materials/Student%20Manuals/Religion%20211-212,%20New%20Testament%20Student%20Manual~eng.pdf
