And in the breaking of her alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume, Mary withholds nothing from Him and expects nothing in return. She’s not out for what she can get from this. And not out to get noticed. She is not out to receive recognition and praise.
It is an incredible scene that unfolds here. A scene that prompts several different and immediate reactions.
• What a Waste!
Firstly there are men lounging around on low couches ready to enjoy a meal; Simon the leper, and the disciples of Jesus. John tells us that Lazarus was also there. And it’s likely that Mary and Martha and other women are probably also around. Martha no doubt was beavering away out back and Mary may have been asked to serve at the table.
It was customary for the guest to be anointed with a few small drops of pure nard before eating commenced. This acts falls upon Mary. Except she isn’t happy with just a few small drops of perfume – Jesus deserves it all!
She breaks the jar and pours its entire content over him. It was a most expensive perfume – worth perhaps more than a year’s wages. And Mary believes that she has done a good thing, a special thing. Some of the men however, Judas in particular, does not react favourably to this gesture: ‘what a waste!’ is the phrase on some minds. They are not impressed by such extravagance. She has wasted the whole jar and it could have been sold and put to much better use!
Most of us can relate to this scenario… Dad arrives home following a long day at work- coffee, his slippers, and the evening news is on his mind. As he enters the front door mum comes down the stairs as if floating on air and says: “don’t you just love my new dress? I got it on sale and it’s perfect for the family reunion next month…” Dad, without seeming to even look at the dress, to observe its beauty and to notice just how lovely and radiant his wife looks in it, and to issue a compliment, so seldom heard in this house, stumbles toward the sofa with a gruff; “How much did that cost?” as he fumbles for the TV remote control. Even the family dog, waiting uneasily for a stroke of recognition can read the husband’s mood in those few words; How much did that cost? – and quickly exits the room.
This is the kind of reaction Judas and others had has they reclined at the table - What a waste!
The fact is this - that when we sacrifice something for Jesus, not everyone is going to necessarily see what we do as being a good thing. Some will look at the cost and not the commitment. Some will look at the act and not the reason. Some will find the negatives and not think much about the positives. Some will find our devotion to Jesus and our commitment to the service of God through the church difficult to understand. Some might even attempt to persuade us to commit a little less, to lower the cost of that which we give.
And you know, sometime we find it hard ourselves to give sacrificially. Maybe we find ourselves saying ‘what a waste’ to the things we do. Sometimes we may feel we are not gaining anything in return; we don’t always see results. No return on our investment.
And yet Jesus calls us to give our lives as a sacrifice in humble service: to Him, to our family, our friends, our work colleagues, our church family, in following Him.
Romans 12 verse 1-2 (Message paraphrase) ‘so here’s what I want you to do, God helping you – take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going to work and walking around life – and place it before God as an offering.’ - when you do that, it is never a waste!
Major Sheila Loman
Birkenhead Corps UKT
