“Why this waste?”

Matthew 26: 6-13 (NKJV)

⁶ And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, ⁷ a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. ⁸ But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? ⁹ For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”
¹⁰ But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. ¹¹ For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. ¹² For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. ¹³ Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Mark 14:4-6 (NIV)

⁴Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? ⁵It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. ⁶“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.”

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I wanted to talk a little bit about the name of this blog, “a beautiful waste.” This encounter with Mary of Bethany is one of my top favs, ah I just love Mary of Bethany. I havent gone super in depth into this but I can give a pretty general background of the scene. Basically Jesus is just days away from going to the cross…buuuuut nobody gets it really. In the first verses of Matthew 16 Jesus has just told His best friends that He is gooooiiiiing to be cruuuciiifiieeed. But it kinda seems like it’s not really clicking with them, and to be honest if I were in their shoes, all I’m sayin is after everything Jesus talked about in the 3 chapters before this, my head would be spinnin off the charts. But then there’s one. Not one of His disciples, not one of His buddies whose been trackin with Him for three years, but a young girl by the name of Mary who just loved to listen to Jesus talk, somehow she understands what’s about to happen to the Son of Man.

I love trying to picture stuff in the Bible actually happening, because it did . Sometimes I forget that these were real people with real personalities and thoughts, not some characters some guy made up just for kicks. So when I look at Mary here I like to imagine being a fly on the wall as I try to wrap my head around the movements of her heart.

Before this whole encounter, in Luke we find Mary doing what Jesus called the “one thing that was needed,” sitting at His feet and hearing His word. There was something about this Man that ignited the heart of this young girl. I imagine she felt the same way the officers in John 7 felt when they said “No man ever spoke like this Man!” She never heard anyone speak words that affected her so much and all she could do was listen. Mary captured the secret of simply “being” with Jesus and it’s so beautiful.

As she knows the time is drawing near for Jesus to get crucified I can just imagine her planning out what she was going to do here in Matthew 26. She had to do something for Him. I can just imagine her a week or so before this time being in her room, thinking about this Man, desiring to pour out all that she had upon Him and then…she sees it. That alabaster flask. I’ve heard a couple teachings that have said that this flask with the fragrant oil that she had was probably an inheritance she received that was worth an immense amount of money…basically this was all this girl had to live off of for the rest of her life but she knows exactly what she’s going to do with it. She knows He’s going to be put to death soon and she wants to do something for Him that is an expression of her heart for Him, to give Him a gift that costs her.

So she does the unTHINKable! Everyone’s gathered around, enjoying one another, having a nice meal and Mary walks into the room and pours the alabaster flask on Jesus. In John 12 we get a little more info, and Mary is described as  annointing the feet of Jesus and wiping His feet with her hair. The next thing we hear are the accusations. But you know what we dont hear? Mary. She doesnt say a word. Not one word. That just blows my mind! She is untouched by the accusations of those around her. She just stays at His feet, just stays there and worships Him.

They ask, “Why this waste?” You can just feel the cutting edge of those words. But Jesus is completely engaged with what is going on in the heart of this young girl and what she is doing for Him. And He is so touched that He declares that her story is going to be told wherever the gospel is preached. To Jesus it was a beautiful waste. When she took that alabaster flask and poured it out on Him she was declaring, “Here is everything I have, my life, my source, but I’m giving it to you. I’ve kept this everyday for your burial, knowing where you were going and I want you to have this because you are so deserving of it.” What a statement. I can’t even fathom it really. All I know is that every time I read this it does something to my heart and gets more beautiful every time.

So in my alabaster flask, I’m placing everything. My future, my knowledge, my talents, my own desires and plans, relationships, my heart, soul, mind and strength, everything…and I’m breaking it over this Man. I think of Misty Edward’s song that goes “I want to waste my life/to search You out” That’s my life vision. He is my life vision. More than what the world deems as successful, more than a crazy ministry. I want my life vision to always be being a friend of Jesus as Mary was and growing in the knowledge and revelation of who He is. And even though people may look and say, “you’re wasting you’re time,” it doesn’t matter. It’s a beautiful waste and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.