“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a
man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very
expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the
table. When the disciples saw this, they
were indignant. ‘Why this waste?’ they
asked. ‘This perfume could have been
sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.’ Aware of this, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are
you bothering this woman? She has done a
beautiful thing to me. The poor you will
always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she
did it to prepare me for burial. I tell
you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she
has done will also be told, in memory of her.’” (Matthew 26:6-13)
The woman in this story is Mary, sister of
Martha and Lazarus (see John 12:3). What
she did for Jesus was extravagant. The
perfume could have been sold for a year’s wages (John 12:5). Now that’s expensive perfume! Like the disciples, I, too would struggle
with the waste of pouring out perfume that expensive all at once. Actually, I would struggle to ever buy such
perfume for any reason, as I think most of us would.
But I wonder, do I ever do anything
extravagant for Jesus? Do I ever do
anything to express my love for Him that costs so much it seems
unreasonable. Maybe it costs me so much
money -- maybe so much effort --maybe so much time -- or so much of
anything. If I never do anything that
shows extravagance in the way I express my love for Jesus, is it because I
really don’t think He is worth it? Or am
I just cheap?
Mary did something extravagant for Jesus and
it touched His heart deeply. He told His
disciples that what she did would be preached all over the world. And it has been! It was included in Mathew’s Gospel and John’s
too. Jesus was touched by her
extravagance.
I just wonder why I hold back! How about you?
His, by Grace,
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment