Wonderfully Significant

Mark 14 3-9 

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made of pure nard.  She broke the  jar and poured the perfume on his head.  Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “ Why this waste of perfume?  It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.”  And they rebuked her harshly.  “Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.  The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.  She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.  I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." [NIV]

A woman comes into the feast that Jesus is attending, comes up to him, breaks open a jar of perfume worth a year’s salary, and pours it on Jesus head.  To all but her and Jesus this seemed to be a complete waste.  "What a waste of money!," they thought, "Surely this could have been put to better use."  But Jesus and the woman both knew she did this in obedience to God.  It was a prophetic act of anointing Jesus for burial ahead of time.  She may have thought long and hard before she made such a great sacrifice, but in the end it seemed to her she needed to do what she could with what she had. She was convinced it would not be a waste.  She was right. Jesus said this act of service would be told everywhere the gospel is preached, and here I am still today, telling about her.  In fact in The Message Jesus calls what she did "wonderfully significant."

This woman demonstrates to us that when we are obeying God's direction no price is too extravagant.

It can be very easy to begin to measure the actions of this woman by our world’s economy and not God’s.  We can quickly calculate the cost versus amount of people benefited from the action and quickly come up with the bottom line assessment of “It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.”  We must guard against this.  Instead, the message of this woman is simple.  Take what you have and be obedient to the leading of the Lord with it, even if it may appear to be an extravagance, or possibly a waste.   Let God handle the balance sheet. 

Think of it like this. If a king were to call his servant before him and say, "I want you to go to this foreign country.  Don't worry about what you are going to do when you get there, I'll send word to you about that after you arrive."  If the servant responds, "I won't go because that is a waste of time and resources.  I don't even know their language.  What can I do there?"  Is that servant being obedient to his master?  What events won't happen if the servant does not go?  What blessings might he miss out on?  Could he expect to get any further assignments from his king? 

When we seek guidance from God it is not our job to determine if the price is too high or if it is wise to use our resources to obey.  It is our duty to simply do his bidding, and in so doing we may end up doing something wonderfully significant for Jesus.