WHAT A WASTE?

 

March 25, 2024

 

Today, we begin the move from “Palms to Passion”. We, with Jesus, walk the path to the cross over these days. May we once again recognize the Amazing Love and Amazing Grace  of our generous God.

 

Mark 14:3-9 

 

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.”

 

WHAT A WASTE?

 

“What a waste!” That is the complaint made regarding the woman’s use of her expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. But, Jesus will have none of it. As one writer puts it, “He finds a purely cost-benefit analysis of our actions to be inadequate and bankrupt.” Sure the money from the sale of the perfume could have been used to do a lot of good things, yet, Jesus considers her act to be completely appropriate. Why? Because it is an act of worship. And Jesus knows that life is lived by what we worship. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Jesus also taught that the first and great commandment is the Love God with our all.

When we understand Jesus’ message: that Worshipping the living God who has given himself for us in the sacrifice of Jesus is the proper focus of our devotion, we will have a new sense of what matters, and we will prioritize our life by this truth. Think of it this way, following Jesus’ path we will find ourselves “wasting” our life on God by giving our life to his plan(s) rather than our own.

We need to be careful not to read into this passage what sometimes happens, know this, Jesus is not minimizing our responsibility to the poor in this passage. He is quoting from Deuteronomy 15, which encourages radical generosity to the poor. However, such generosity flows from worshiping God. First things first! The take away for us is put God ahead of all else as the only one worthy of our worship and we will find we are pouring ourselves out in all sorts of beautiful ways in service to the world.

LET US PRAY

God, Help me to see that my life is to be “wasted” on you and only then will it become something beautiful for you to use in your world. In Christ’s Name, Amen.