“It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.” And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.””
In this passage Jesus and his disciples, just like many other devout Jews, were in Jerusalem for the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This was a time of joy and thanksgiving as God’s people remembered how God had freed them from captivity in Egypt and how he caused the Angel of Death to pass over them.
Mark tells us that the religious leaders were trying to find a “cunning way” to arrest and kill Jesus. Though these leaders wanted Jesus gone, they knew that he was loved by many in the city. They wanted to wait until the crowds went home after the celebrations and quietly find a way to have Jesus arrested that wouldn’t cause the people to riot and turn against the religious leaders.
It is in the midst of this tension - between the celebration of the Passover and the plotting of the Sanhedrin that we see a picture of extravagant love on display.
Have you ever had something that you would consider precious? Something of greater value and worth than any of your other possessions?
The woman in this story had a possession of incredible value. The alabaster jar of perfume that she carried would have cost nearly a year's wages. It was a highly valued perfume made from a plant that grew in the Himalayan mountains 3,000 miles from Jerusalem.
What would you do with such a valuable possession?
The woman in this story chose to use it to display her extravagant love for Jesus. She broke open the jar and poured it onto Jesus. She showed those in the room - and every person who has heard this story over the last 2,000 years that Jesus was her true treasure.
She wasn’t worried about what the religious leaders who were plotting to arrest Jesus may think of her actions. She wasn’t seeking the approval of those in the room who judged her for her extravagance. This act of worship and devotion was between her and Jesus.
We all have things that we value. For some of us, we may have things of monetary value - others may have a valuable talent or the gift of time. How we use these gifts shows the world what we value most. Are we using our possessions for our own gain? Are we hoarding them and keeping them for ourselves? Or are we using them in a way that shows the world around us that we belong to Jesus and that he is our greatest treasure?
Let’s make it our prayer together that God would reveal to us the things that are fighting for our heart’s affection and let’s pray that the Spirit would enable us to use our gifts and possessions in a way that shows the world around us the immeasurable worth of Jesus.