“... a woman came to him with an
alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was
reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant, ‘Why
this waste?’ They asked. ‘This perfume could have been sold at a high price and
the money given to the poor.’” Matthew 16:6-9
Have lots of money? Give to the poor! It seems like a righteous slam-dunk, doesn’t it? I mean, what would we say if we were there as this woman broke open a jar of perfume and poured out an entire year’s wages in a single moment? Wouldn’t we moralize, too? Or maybe it’s better to ask ourselves, wouldn’t we also be tempted to reduce this woman’s sacrificial act of love to a sterile study in situational ethics?
The heart is a labyrinth so complex we are easily and often lost on our own paths. How is it, for instance, we justify our disgust for a person by measuring him or her against our moral rules? Or, like the disciples, do we really think we can cozy up to Jesus by condemning our neighbor? Why do we keep judging the act without knowing the heart? And in so doing, what do we betray about ourselves? This is not to say “it’s all good” and there is no right and wrong. Rather, the heart of our sin nature is an incompetent magistrate and a hypocritical one, at that.
But how different the heart freed and made new in Christ! Not even the noblest of religious expectations could constrain the woman’s sacrificial act of love. Likely, she was completely unaware of the ultimate significance of her gesture, which was to prepare Jesus for burial; she knew only the Spirit’s voice and her desire to heed his call. And how did Jesus – he who cared more about the poor than anyone else in the room – respond? “She has done a beautiful thing to me.... I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” What does he ask of any of us but such faith and obedience? What could please him more?
It was Paul who wrote, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Clearly, the Spirit was upon the woman with the perfume that day and certainly she followed in freedom. Her story lives on forever as a quiet lesson in liberty.
Holy Spirit, live in me today. Move me freely in your ways – unfettered and eager to do the Father’s will in even the smallest of ways.
[The reading for the day is Matthew 26:6-16.]
Have lots of money? Give to the poor! It seems like a righteous slam-dunk, doesn’t it? I mean, what would we say if we were there as this woman broke open a jar of perfume and poured out an entire year’s wages in a single moment? Wouldn’t we moralize, too? Or maybe it’s better to ask ourselves, wouldn’t we also be tempted to reduce this woman’s sacrificial act of love to a sterile study in situational ethics?
The heart is a labyrinth so complex we are easily and often lost on our own paths. How is it, for instance, we justify our disgust for a person by measuring him or her against our moral rules? Or, like the disciples, do we really think we can cozy up to Jesus by condemning our neighbor? Why do we keep judging the act without knowing the heart? And in so doing, what do we betray about ourselves? This is not to say “it’s all good” and there is no right and wrong. Rather, the heart of our sin nature is an incompetent magistrate and a hypocritical one, at that.
But how different the heart freed and made new in Christ! Not even the noblest of religious expectations could constrain the woman’s sacrificial act of love. Likely, she was completely unaware of the ultimate significance of her gesture, which was to prepare Jesus for burial; she knew only the Spirit’s voice and her desire to heed his call. And how did Jesus – he who cared more about the poor than anyone else in the room – respond? “She has done a beautiful thing to me.... I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” What does he ask of any of us but such faith and obedience? What could please him more?
It was Paul who wrote, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Clearly, the Spirit was upon the woman with the perfume that day and certainly she followed in freedom. Her story lives on forever as a quiet lesson in liberty.
Holy Spirit, live in me today. Move me freely in your ways – unfettered and eager to do the Father’s will in even the smallest of ways.
[The reading for the day is Matthew 26:6-16.]
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