Holy WednesdayOn Holy Wednesday, the primary remembrance is of the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in preparation for his death and burial. While Holy Tuesday offers a picture of the depths of hard-heartedness and the callousness of religion without belief, this day offers perhaps the most beautiful example of rightful worship in the Scriptures. It is easy to invert these extremes in our everyday lives, to slowly lose our genuine love and gratefulness while still doing enough of the right things to consider our faith genuine and even lively. Today serves as a reminder of what truly precious worship actually looks like. Today serves as a call back to fresh, overflowing, responsive love toward God. The woman had fallen so far short that the upstanding people of the community regarded her as having a particularly stained reputation. The idea that she could be worthy of God’s love on her own merits likely never crossed her mind. Yet here she is, in the closest proximity to the Son of God, with the most genuine emotional response, caring the least about how she appears to the crowd, giving the most expensive gift. Her worship is the most costly in every way, yet she is giving with the least restraint. The fact is that Jesus deserves this unrestrained love–this worship–from each of us. May our hearts genuinely produce it in abundance.PrayJesus, my Savior, You are worthy. I love You because You made true love possible. I love You because You first loved me. You saw me undisguised, at my worst, with no sin or failure hidden from your eyes. And You loved me so much that You died to reconcile me to God. For future joy and fellowship, You paid the price for my salvation–even more–for our reconciliation. Now I get to be with You forever, fully known, fully loved, fully freed. Let me be close to You today. Forgive me for being jaded, cold-hearted or complacent in my response to the things You have done for me. Forgive me for believing anything else could be better than You. Make my heart new again. Make my heart new today. And let me walk with You every moment with overflowing affection. As it should always be. As it will always be. Amen.ReadMatthew 26:6-13; John 12:1-8