Lord, thank you for this opportunity to trust you more.
It’s ok if our gut reaction isn’t the greatest. More important that we move through the stinky part to get to the God part.
If it helps, the disciples weren’t great at this either. Take a look at one of their less-than-shining moments in Matthew 26:
6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 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. 8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
What might God be trying to say to us today?
First thing I notice… “Why this waste?” Yikes. Can you imagine giving your finest gift to your favorite person, only for it to be referred to as waste? It hurts my heart.
This perfume was more than just scented oil. Scholars believe it would have been given to her by her parents when she came of marrying age. She was meant to give it to her husband as a wedding gift, but instead, she poured it out on her Lord. That which had been saved for a man was fully offered to her Savior.
The disciples couldn’t see past the financial opportunity to realize that the emotional cost far outweighed the perfume’s numerical value. As my pastor once said, they were viewing ministry through the lens of pragmatism instead of the lens of praise (a whole word in and of itself).
If it helps, the disciples weren’t great at this either.
The word “indignant” in verse 8 is significant. They weren’t just annoyed; they were big mad. Let’s set the scene… the men folk in this time gathered to eat in lounge chairs. The women were necessarily welcome in the same environment as the men. So this woman’s presence was definitely seen as an interruption, not unlike the various interruptions to our own expectations these days.
But that’s not how Jesus saw her. People were not an interruption – people were his mission. I can imagine the heart of Jesus breaking at the realization that the men closest to him still didn’t understand how He loved people. She wasn’t an interruption, but she did become a lesson for the men around them.
The people around us need Jesus every day. And for some, we might be their best chance to encounter Him. I wonder how many opportunities I’ve squandered because it felt like an improper approach or an inconvenient moment. Lord, please redeem the opportunities that we didn’t recognize and open our eyes so that we may never miss them again.
People were not an interruption – people were his mission.
“The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” The disciples had a wrong view of the presence of God. They took the present nature of Jesus for granted. This woman seemed to get what they did not. She knew there was honor to be given and love to be lavished on Jesus now, while He was there.
Why wait to do what can be done now? There was an urgency in her heart to love the Lord with all that she had, with that which was most precious to her now. What do we have in our possession now that can be offered in love to the Father right now?
What do we have in our possession now that can be offered in love to the Father right now?
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