My Sunday School teacher has been teaching through the book of Matthew and a couple of weeks ago as we studied Jesus’ dinner with Simon the Leper, my mind went to Decoration Day.

Tomorrow is Decoration Day at Campground. We’ve talked about Decoration several times and I will undoubtedly return to the subject again, hopefully from different angles and with new information to share. This is a holiday that historically was anticipated on the mountain the same as Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, which may explain why it came to mind so quickly when I read Jesus’ prediction in Matthew 26:13.

Allow me to remind you of the story – just days before the crucifixion, Jesus and his disciples shared a meal in Bethany, “in the house of Simon the leper. There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.” His disciples thought that was awfully wasteful since her gift costs a year’s wages, and they imagined they could’ve better spent that money. In verse 13, Jesus predicts:

Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

First, I want to say that I am often struck by the living nature of God’s Word. I know I’ve read that passage and verse many, many times. I’ve probably heard a number of sermons taken from it. Yet it popped from the page anew with this reading.

Matthew doesn’t give her name. In fact, according to John MacArthur, the same account is given in the books of Mark and John with only John relating that this was Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus. Both Matthew and Mark choose to relate Jesus’ prophecy without sharing the name.

It made me think about the tomb of the unknown soldier – from the US to Ukraine, Britain to Brazil, most countries have a national monument containing an unidentified soldier in memory of all the fallen and especially those who could never be returned to their family. The President usually visits the tomb in Arlington Cemetery once or twice per year and Queen Elizabeth frequently visits the Grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey.

Jesus’ words also made me think of the numerous unnamed graves in our local cemeteries. Marked by simple stones, many of them may have borne names at one time. Yet today they stand reminding me of the many people who passed through our mountain home, struggled, rejoiced, and suffered before me. Their lives were vastly different than mine, but the struggles, joy and suffering are the same with every generation, aren’t they?

Just as we remember the example of devotion and service shown by that woman in Bethany when she anointed the Savior with oil, we can be inspired by the memories of our own ancestors. Tomorrow we will gather at the cemetery and lay flowers by stones carved with names and dates. And we will remember. We will re-tell stories – hopefully we will learn something new - about family and neighbors long gone.