What This Woman Has Done

 

What This Woman Has Done

 

“Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume, and she poured it on His head as He was reclining at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? For this perfume could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you bothering the woman? For she has done a good deed for Me. For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”” (Matthew 26:6 – 13, NASB; for parallel accounts see Mark 14:3 – 9; John 12:1 - 8)

 

This little gem may well have over a thousand facets reflecting our Lord Jesus Christ, indeed, its facets may be never-ending; as C.S. Lewis has pointed out, we can enter into small places that have more space than the big places outside them – consider the stable in The Last Battle.

 

John’s account tells us that it is Mary, Martha’s sister, who anoints Jesus. We also see Martha still serving and Mary still adoring (Luke 10:38 – 42). Perhaps this is a warning for us to beware thinking that doing the work of God is the same as adoring and worshipping God. Do we fall into the trap of substituting religious work and busyness for worship, adoration, and relationship? Do we think that doing things is a substitute for intimate relationship, whether with God or with others?

 

Jesus tells us that unless we abide in Him and He abides in us that we cannot bear fruit, that without Him we can do nothing (John 15:1 – 5). But do we believe this? Do we live like this? Is there ample evidence to demonstrate that we live like this, both individually and congregationally?

 

Matthew tells us that “the disciples were indignant” at the waste of money on Jesus, Mark that “some were indignantly remarking to one another,” and John that Judas Iscariot was also complaining – in the case of Judas it was because he was “a thief” and made a habit of stealing from the money box which was entrusted to him.

 

John pictures Mary anointing the feet of Jesus and wiping His feet with her hair, which is her glory. Mark and Matthew recount that Mary anoints His head; Mary appropriately anoints Jesus’s head and feet, hence Jesus says, “For when he poured this perfume on My body; she did it to prepare Me for burial.”

 

When Matthew makes the point of writing that “the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste?”” do we see ourselves? How do we view life? How do we view our relationships? How do we view our relationship with God? Do we love God so that we waste ourselves on Him? In other words, is the Holy Trinity the center and focus or our lives, our worship, our adoration?

 

Or do we play a debit and credit game with God…and with others? Are we forever calculating our return on investment in the things we do, on the time we spend, on the way we spend and give money? Does pragmatism rule, does religious activity rule, or are we loving and worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23 – 24)?

 

If the disciples represent the church, then here is a warning and challenge to us all, pouring ourselves out for Jesus, giving Him our best, giving Him all that we have and all that we are - is our calling, and out from our intimacy with Him and in Him true spiritual and eternal service will flow. As for Judas, there will always be crooks and thieves in the professing church; they will steal money and they will steal peace and they will steal joy and they will steal sound teaching…but we are called to give ourselves to Jesus.

 

It is thought that the value of the anointment was about a year’s wage for the average person. If this year represents our lives, are we giving our lives to Jesus?

 

Note that Mark tells us that “she broke the vial and poured it.” Friends, the treasure that we have in “earthen vessels” (2 Cor. 4:7) can only be shared if we are broken at the Cross and remain broken (Galatians 2:20). We are called to live cruciform lives in Jesus Christ, we are called with Paul to say, “…for I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus” (Gal. 6:17). These marks are marks of ownership, the mark of the Cross on us means that we belong to Jesus Christ and that we are no longer our own – we are the possessions of Another.

 

John writes that “the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” Now dear brothers and sisters, are our lives filled with the fragrance of worship and love for Jesus Christ? Our marriages? Our families? Our congregations? The busyness of Martha did not fill the house with fragrance, the adoration of Mary, the breaking of the vial, the pouring out of her love…this filled the house with fragrance.

 

Pragmatism and utilitarianism will not give life and fragrance, mere religious activity will not result in others knowing the Presence of the Trinity, a curriculum of “how to” courses will not draw us into koinonia with the Trinity and with one another.

 

Are we wasting ourselves on Jesus Christ? For make no mistake, lives of worship will always look like a waste, lives of prayer will always look foolish – after all, there is so much we could be doing (what we usually mean is that we have other things to do which serve our agendas).

 

When Jesus says, “Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her,” why do you think He says this?

 

How does the “memory of her” challenge us?

 

What other Divine facets do you “see” in Mary’s outpouring of love and devotion?

 

How are we responding to this memory, this memorial?

 

What is Mary teaching us?