Scripture Daily

Context No. 1652 of 4322 · Mark

Context · Reflection

Mark 14:6-11: in context

6But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. 7For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me. 8She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying. 9Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News may be preached throughout the whole world, that which this woman has done will also be spoken of for a memorial of her.” 10Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them. 11They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him.

A woman pours out costly ointment on Jesus, and when some grumble at the waste, Jesus defends her: leave her alone; she has done a good work for me. You will not always have me, he says; she has done what she could, anointing my body beforehand for its burial. And he adds that wherever the good news is preached in all the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. In the very next verse, Judas goes to the chief priests to betray him.

The words of Jesus worth holding onto are these: she has done what she could. The woman's act was not calculated or grand in the world's eyes; it was simply what she had to give, an outpouring of love offered to Jesus in the moment she had, before it was too late. She did not do everything, or something impressive; she did what she could, and Jesus received it as a good work and promised it would be remembered wherever the gospel is told. There is great encouragement in that for those of us who feel our offering to God is small. We may not be able to do much; we may feel our love and service amount to little beside what others give. But Jesus does not ask for what we cannot do; he receives what we can. She has done what she could is his commendation, and it is within the reach of every one of us: to give what we have, the love and service we are actually able to offer, and to give it now, while we can. For the woman acted in her moment; you will not always have me, Jesus said, and she seized the chance to show her love before it passed. The contrast with Judas, who in the next breath goes to sell his Lord, is sharp: she gave what she could in love; he bargained his Master away for money. The call is to be like the woman, to do what we can, our real if small offering of love, and to do it now, before the moment to show it is gone.

Do I hold back from serving God because my offering feels small, or can I do as this woman did, giving what I actually can, the love and service within my reach, and giving it now, while I still have the chance, trusting that Jesus receives and remembers even the small gift given in love?

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