Scripture Daily

Context No. 3908 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 26:6-13: in context

6Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 7a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. 8But when his disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor.” 10However, knowing this, Jesus said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has done a good work for me. 11For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me. 12For in pouring this ointment on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of as a memorial of her.”

At a meal in Bethany, a woman comes to Jesus with a jar of very costly ointment and pours it over his head, an act of lavish, unrestrained devotion. The disciples are indignant: why this waste? they ask; it could have been sold for a great sum and given to the poor. But Jesus defends her warmly: why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

She has poured out her costly treasure in love for him, and, though she may not have fully known it, prepared his body for burial. Two ways of seeing meet here. The disciples' calculating eye saw only waste, a valuable thing spent all at once with nothing practical to show for it. But Jesus saw an act of pure love and honored it, promising that wherever the gospel is preached, her deed would be told in memory of her. There is a place, Jesus teaches, for extravagant, seemingly impractical devotion to him, love that pours out its treasure simply because he is worthy. The world, and even our own calculating hearts, may call it waste; Jesus calls it beautiful.

Is there room in my devotion for the extravagant, seemingly impractical love that pours out its treasure on Christ simply because he is worthy, the love the calculating world calls waste but Jesus calls beautiful?

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