{"id":18664,"date":"2025-04-05T00:01:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T23:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/?p=18664"},"modified":"2025-04-01T10:39:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T09:39:52","slug":"prayer-for-the-week-5th-april-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/2025\/04\/05\/prayer-for-the-week-5th-april-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer for the Week 5th April 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Anointing Jesus\u2019 feet\u00a0 John 12 1-8.<\/p>\n

Mmm, you smell nice! How do we, as women, feel when someone pays us such a compliment. Our perfume may not be expensive, but it helps our sense of wellbeing. When going out to choir or another meeting, it is a quick spray of perfume from my local supermarket, that sets me up for the evening. The expensive perfume is kept for special occasions!<\/p>\n

The woman in our bible story was not a reflexologist, someone who knows about the connections between parts of our feet and the rest of our anatomy. It is the same Mary, who sat at Jesus\u2019 feet, enthralled at what is had to say, who is now massaging Jesus\u2019 feet. In the process removing the dirt from the road and filling the house with the fragrance. Unlike Judas, Jesus knows just what Mary\u2019s act of devotion means.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus\u2019 feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.<\/p>\n

Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, \u201cWhy wasn\u2019t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.\u201d He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.<\/p>\n

Jesus said, \u201cLet her alone. She\u2019s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don\u2019t always have me.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/p>\n

May our thoughts acknowledge where there is need. May our actions be full of justice. May our love for Christ be sincere. Amen<\/p>\n

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Janice Clark – Area Trustee for Yorkshire North & East, Yorkshire West & Sheffield<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Photo by Siora Photography<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Anointing Jesus\u2019 feet\u00a0 John 12 1-8. Mmm, you smell nice! How do we, as women, feel when someone pays us such a compliment. Our perfume may not be expensive, but it helps our sense of wellbeing. When going out to choir or another meeting, it is a quick spray of perfume from my local supermarket, that sets me up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer-worship","category-prayer-for-the-week"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 06:07:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwib.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}