This is an excerpt from my book “40 Moments From Christ’s Final Days.” Click here to get it from Amazon using my affiliate link.
Find this moment in: Mt. 26:6–13, Mk. 14:3–9
Jesus arrived in Jerusalem to die. He’d been warning His disciples about His impending death, but Mark 8:31-33 is one of many times that they either didn’t understand or refused to believe it. However, not all who knew Jesus was the Messiah were so blind to what would happen to Him in just a few days.
And while He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster jar of perfume of very costly pure nard; and she broke the jar and poured it over His head. (Mark 14:3)
John 19:40 helps us better understand what’s happening here. Unlike the common Roman practice of cremating their dead, the Jewish custom was to cover a dead body in aromatic spices or oils before burial. We don’t know who this woman was, but she may have believed it was her last opportunity to see Jesus before His death.
This wasn’t the first time a woman had anointed Jesus with costly perfume. Before entering Jerusalem, Mary cleaned His feet with expensive oil. Both times, Judas Iscariot led the disciples in criticizing this irrational behavior. That’s because these oils were worth three hundred denarii, representing about a year of income. The disciples point out that they could have sold the perfume to care for the poor.
That’s a noble observation. And it’s likely they say this because Jesus had a habit of giving to the poor. However, when someone previously used oil to anoint Christ’s feet, John gives us a glimpse into why Judas was really upset about the situation.
But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was going to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to take from what was put into it. (John 19:4-6)
Judas had sticky fingers and must have hated to miss an opportunity to steal from a year of wages. Judas saw this happen twice in the last week. And both times, Jesus rebuked Judas and the disciples who were more focused on practicality than on their Savior.
But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her? She did a good work to Me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. She has done what she could; she anointed My body beforehand for the burial. (Mark 14:6-8)
Jesus isn’t just standing up for someone being picked on. He’s declaring that this woman saw what they refused to see. She listened to Jesus and understood that He was not only her Messiah, but that her Messiah had to die for her sins. She honored Him in the greatest way she could by surrendering something valuable to someone she knew was priceless.
Stop and think: Philippians 3:8-10 says that Paul counted everything as loss compared to having Jesus. Nothing in this life is so valuable that we can justify withholding it from Him. What is something you’re holding on to for rational reasons, knowing that surrendering it to Jesus in faith will be worth it in eternity?
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