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When God Promoted Waste
Brian Mashburn
April 26, 2015
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When God Promoted Waste
In our study of Jesus, we are drawing close to a hard day, a dark day, a day of tears and injustice, ingratitude and blindness... the day of Jesus' death is mere days away.
But we are not at the humiliation of the cross just yet. Instead, we are at a dinner party of honor in Bethany, thrown by Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Can you imagine how their hearts must have been overwhelmed with awe and gratitude, and longing for an outlet to express it? After all, last week Lazarus was dead and buried, and this week, he's alive. Every look at him would inspire praise.
Martha, of course, is serving. Lazarus sits at the table as "exhibit A" of the power of Jesus. And sweet Mary has planned an extravagant act of honor, one so impractical that almost anyone would question the wisdom of it.
She pulls out a bottle of perfume that only the rich would own, and only the mega-rich would use, and then only sparingly. It was worth not a day's wages, not even a month's wages. One would have to work an entire year without spending a penny in order to purchase it.
And she poured all of it out, all at once, on Jesus' feet. It was a stunning declaration of the worth of Jesus.
Judas and the disciples rebuked Mary. This could have been sold and used for something worthy! Like the poor!
But Jesus rebuked them. He explained that they got it wrong, and Mary got it right. There is no amount large enough that it is too much to be "wasted" on honor and gratitude for Jesus and what he has done for them. And for what he was about to do.
May each of us find ourselves more like "impractical" Mary, and not as the "reasonable, sensible" disciples.