Editor’s Note: In honor of International Women’s Day (March 8), Women’s History Month in the United States, and the Lenten season, we will be publishing devotions written by women about the women who Jesus ministered to during his time on earth. This series will be called, “The Women Jesus Loved.”
“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.” (Mark 14:4-5)
The scene is set by three of the gospel writers the same way 1. A few days before Passover, the religious leaders have finally made plans to capture and kill Jesus. There is an order out for his arrest as he eats with his friends. Meanwhile, Martha is serving and Lazarus, very much alive, sits among the company.
Then, Mary comes to the table. She carries an alabaster flask filled with a pound of nard, an expensive oil worth a year’s wages. In an act of extravagant love, she breaks her flask, pouring out the pure ointment on Jesus’ head and feet. She unbinds her hair and with great courage and humility, uses it to wipe Jesus’ feet.
As the fragrance of her devotion fills the house, so do the voices of accusation.
“Why this waste?”
Perhaps you’ve heard the same words in response to your worship of Christ. You’ve been accused of “wasting” Sunday mornings and weekday evenings at church, “wasting” your money-making potential working in an underserved community, “wasting” your gifts staying in a small local congregation, or “wasting” your education serving your children at home.
Or perhaps the voice is your own as you’ve hesitated to offer your all to God. Even the most faithful saint can begin to wonder as she seeks to love him and others, “Is this really the best use of my resources? The best use of my life?”
Mary’s anointing of Jesus reminds us that though voices in the room may loudly declare it, it is never a waste to offer to Christ all we have. Here are four reminders from her story that I hope will strengthen our resolve to do so.
1. Jesus Is Worthy Of Our Love
The gospel of John tells us it was Judas’ greed that made him scorn Mary’s offering. Her gift was his loss in stolen gain (John 12:4-6). But Judas wasn’t the only one who scolded her. Matthew tells us the other disciples were indignant too. It seems that while they understood Jesus’ mission to do good (e.g. serve the poor), they still didn’t quite understand who he was. If they had truly known his identity, they wouldn’t have thought of one year’s wages as wasted on him.
When Jesus tells his disciples that Mary has poured out her ointment in preparation for his burial (Mark 14:8), he is prophesying the death he will die for the sins of the world. Mary would have been a fool to do what she did if Jesus were an ordinary man, but he wasn’t. He was her Lord and Messiah.
It seems that Mary understood something of Jesus’ worth that others missed. Earlier in his ministry, she had prioritized fellowship with him as the “one thing necessary” (Luke 10:38-42). She had heard Jesus’ claim to be the Resurrection and the Life and watched as he called her dead brother out from his tomb. Charles Spurgeon writes of Mary’s anointing of Jesus as “the deed of a soul all on fire — the deed of a woman filled with deep devotion and reverent love 2.” After all Jesus taught and did, Mary understood the uniqueness of his identity, loved him, and determined to respond accordingly.
Likewise, it is fitting for we who have heard Christ’s voice, known his deeds, and been saved by his blood, to respond to him in worship. We pour out our lives before him because we love him for who he is and what he has done.
2. Jesus Will Defend Our Devotion
Mary’s anointing of Jesus wasn’t the first time she was publicly reprimanded in the gospels. Once, her sister had angrily accused her of wasting time listening to the Master. He had spoken up for Mary then. Now, as she takes heat from his inner circle for her alabaster gift, he does it again. “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me“ (Mk. 14:6). Mary, “soul all on fire”, was twice defended by Jesus for her devotion to him.
There is a third way Christ would go on to defend Mary though, and that is through dying and rising again. Only after Jesus’ resurrection would the veil lift from his disciples’ eyes (John 12:16). Only then did they come to honor Mary as the one who understood about Christ what they had missed so badly. Mary’s broken alabaster flask made perfect sense on the other side of the cross, and she was vindicated by his rising.
As Christians, we live by faith, and that means sometimes our worship to Christ might seem like a waste to others. Even our own hearts may waver. But one day, Jesus will come again in glory. On that Day, we will not regret having given our time, effort, resources, and very selves to him in worship. His return will prove once and for all that those who poured out their lives for his name’s sake were not foolish to do so.
3. Jesus Wastes Nothing
Sometimes we hesitate to give God our all because we’re not sure what he’d do with our particular set of talents, experiences, and desires. We have an alabaster flask but wonder if Jesus could use it. Other times, we’re afraid to risk pouring out our precious ointment because the path of obedience feels inefficient.
Many years ago, I told a relative I was no longer pursuing medicine because I sensed God’s calling to full-time ministry. The reply was, “What are you going to do, beg people for money to do ‘God’s work’? Why don’t you become a doctor? Then you can make money and give it to people who need it.” I know I’m not the only one who’s been on the receiving end of that line of reasoning. Even those in the church can be tempted to rely on human wisdom to make decisions, precluding the possibility of risky devotion under the pretense of stewardship. “This ointment could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor!” (Matt. 26:9)
The disciples thought Mary was wasteful because she was not strategic with her gift, but Mary wasn’t thinking in terms of influence and reach. She merely loved Jesus deeply and worshipped him courageously. Yet in an extraordinary and unexpected turn, Jesus takes her gift and bestows on it meaning beyond what she could have imagined 3. He pulls Mary and her alabaster flask into the story of redemption, giving her actions the weight of prophecy. He declares her anointing as preparation for the most important event in history, his atoning death on the cross.
While there is nothing wrong with being wise with our resources, Jesus’ response to Mary reveals that what he seeks from us is not first and foremost productivity, strategy, and efficiency. It is our responsibility to worship him, and he will use our lives as he wills. Therefore, we can offer him our all even if we don’t know exactly what he will do with it. We can use our time and resources to take big steps of risky obedience and bold faith. We can serve long-term in unseen places, not driven by measurable results or promises of impact. We can bring the unconventional gifts of our broken stories, unfulfilled desires, and everyday obedience. We can “waste” all of this on Jesus because Jesus wastes nothing.
4. Jesus Graciously Receives Our Gifts
Though Mary’s gift was costly for her, the reality is that one year’s wages is a small gift for a God who owns the universe. Jesus could have chosen to reject her offering not because it was too extravagant, but because it wasn’t extravagant enough. Yet in his kindness, he receives Mary’s gift with grace.
In his defense of Mary, Jesus doesn’t just commend her for doing the “appropriate” or “right” thing. He says, “She has done a beautiful thing to me,” highlighting his personal delight in her gift. He sees her earnest desire to please him, “she did what she could,” not belittling or shaming her for what she couldn’t give. And just in case Mary (or we) doubted his perception of her and her alabaster jar, he goes on to honor her with the promise that her story would be told wherever the gospel spread — a promise we know he kept because here we are reading it.
I believe Christians sometimes grow weary in service to God because we imagine he is like his disciples. We wonder if, after we have poured ourselves out in worship and service to him, he might say, “That was foolish. No thanks.” Especially for Asian Americans who often struggle with the feeling of not being “enough” for our parents, it can be exhausting offering to God our all without being sure of how he receives our efforts.
For the battered and burnt out Christian, weighed down by the impossibility of bringing Jesus a worthy enough offering, Mary’s story reminds us that God is not only a good Giver but a gracious Receiver. As you pour yourself out in service to him, he sees your heart and knows when you’ve done all you can. He receives your obedience and worship as beautiful, even if it feels lacking.
Brothers and sisters, how might Jesus’ worth and the promise of his return fuel lavish devotion to him today? May the knowledge of his wisdom enable you to walk in faith, and the promise of his delight quicken your steps to his feet. Mary’s alabaster jar was not wasted on him. Yours won’t be either.
Read more of our “The Women Jesus Loved” series here.
- Mark 14:3-9, John 12:1-8, Matthew 26:6-13
- “Concentration and Diffusion”, Charles Spurgeon.
- Most commentators agree that although Jesus receives Mary’s anointing as preparation for his burial, this probably wasn’t her primary motivation. Charles Spurgeon expands on this thought: “Sometimes when your heart prompts you to go and do such-and-such a thing for Christ, you cannot tell what you are doing. You may be doing a very simple thing in appearance, but there may be some wonderful, some matchless meaning in it. Christ may be but sending you, as it were, to take hold of one golden link—mayhap there are ten thousand links that are hanging to it, and when you draw out that one, all the ten thousand will come after it. This woman thought she was just anointing Christ. ‘Nay,’ says Christ, ‘she is anointing me for my burial.’ There was more in her act than she knew of. And there is more in the spiritual promptings of our heart than we shall ever discover to the day of judgment.” – “A Woman’s Memorial”