Holy Week 2023 Reflections

“Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” (Matthew 26:8-9)

Ever prioritized dinner with your family and next morning your officemates will say, “Why this waste? You could have taken a customer out last night and clinch some juicy deals”?

Ever refused to marry someone who doesn’t believe in God and your own family will say, “Why this waste? You’ll be an old maid soon if you don’t get your act together” ?

Ever dedicated your talents to the Lord, and your colleagues will say, “Why this waste? You could have fame and fortune”?

In a poignant scene in Bethany, Mary knew that in just a few days, her Friend will be taken away and killed.

Gone will be the sweet times she’d sit at His feet and hang upon His every word.

Gone will be the radiance of His love with which He loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Gone will be this wonderful Man who dared describe Himself as the Resurrection and the Life, with her brother, quite literally, as the breathing, walking proof.

So Mary took the very costly perfume – a pound of pure nard – and slowly, reverently, poured it upon the head and feet of Jesus.

As the liquid trickled down His cheeks and splashed onto His garments, was she mournful that He had to go and die? Did Jesus cheer her up, saying “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in the Father, believe also in Me”?

As she emptied the alabaster jar over His feet, and wiped them with her own hair, was she praying that God will change His plans, so Jesus will remain with them after all?

Love doesn’t always have to be practical. Just look at men buying flowers for their sweethearts, knowing that in a few days those flowers will only wither and die.

A waste of money, you might say. And yet this was exactly what Mary did. In pouring out her perfume, she was pouring out her adoration for Jesus.

But it seemed a criminal waste to others.

Have we become coldly calculating in our service for the King? Fussing over the impact of our endeavors, yet forgetting the pleasure of our Lord?

If Jesus were to ask for your alabaster jar of costly perfume, would you lavish it at His feet with what Oswald Chambers called “reckless abandon”? Or would you clutch it tightly against your chest, and say you have a better use for it than Jesus?

Whatever your “costly perfume” is… your dreams, your talents, your treasures, your valuable time, whatever you hold dear…offer it all to the Lord with a fresh love for Him.

And we have His assurance that no good thing we’ve done — simply because we love Him — will be erased from the memory of Eternity.

Is your life an outpouring of adoration, like Mary’s perfume?