Lavish Love

Lavish Love . . .  Love that is beyond the simple and the ordinary. Rich, elaborate, luxurious love.  

What does that look like? 

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!              I John 3:1   

Mary knew a little bit about this kind of love when she poured out her life from that broken jar, lavishly, extravagantly, letting her treasure run down over Jesus' feet. 

And then she gave up her glory by removing her headpiece, and wiped Jesus' feet with her hair.  In that culture, no proper woman ever let her hair down in public. She made herself open for rejection or rebuke. She did not think of the eyes of disapproving men.  Her soul was focused on Jesus and her act of worship.  Jesus looked down with tenderness as Mary dried his feet. 

Extravagance might be misunderstood by others, but not by Jesus.

"Leave her alone.”  He says. “She has done a beautiful thing for me".   (John 12) 

Jesus shows us another example of this lavish love six days later, at Passover.  (John 13) 

Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.   Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waste.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him… When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.  You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Jesus knew that this was it, His last moments on earth, and what does he choose to do with his time, his moments, his last moments before his flesh gets ripped open, nail pierced, his heart broken, bleeding love for those that reject him?  He chooses to show them his lavish love by doing the unthinkable, He bends low, gently takes hold of filthy feet and washes them clean. 

Hours later His blood is poured out spilling down His feet revealing to us the ultimate example of Lavish Love.
  

Love with your whole heart, lavish love, God’s love.  With sweet abandon, follow Christ’s example, and pour out His love in extravagant ways, as an act of worship to our Father.

-Sue Parrott