April 18, 2025

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.” -Matthew 26:6-13 

I have a suspicion that neither this woman nor Jesus’s disciples had any concrete knowledge of Jesus’s impending death when this scene occurred. Jesus, however, took the opportunity to make this situation about the cross. The question Jesus is posing to his disciples is this: What are you wasting for his sake? 

I have always been fascinated by this scene. Every time I read it I’m trying to picture what this must have looked like as it unfolded. Jesus and his disciples are reclining at the table and eating dinner as guests in Simon’s house. They’re seated on floor leaning against cushions as was customary at that time. A woman strolls into the room. She opens a small bottle of perfume which she probably wore hanging around her neck. I would imagine that all the conversation at the table stopped. Every person stopped chewing and watched her do this. She empties the expensive perfume on Jesus’s head. To Bible readers, this anointing has connotations to the anointing of kings with oil or the anointing of a dead body being prepared for burial (as we later see with some of Jesus’s women disciples brining aromatic spices for Jesus’s body as they go to the tomb in Mark 16). Then Jesus makes one of the most fascinating comments:  

“…I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”   

There are a lot of godly men and women in Scripture who did many incredible things because of faith. But this woman gets a special global shoutout from Jesus for all eternity!  

What a waste. That was Jesus’s disciple’s reaction. She wasted all that expensive perfume on Jesus. They state that a better use of the perfume’s value would have been to serve the poor. Jesus’s response isn’t shutting down the disciples’ concern for the poor. In fact, he tells them that they will have infinite opportunities to serve the poor (just as he and other biblical authors command and instruct Christians to do throughout the New Testament). Instead, he draws our attention to what it is that we are willing to waste in this life for the sake of Jesus.  

What the world and even some common sense sees as wasteful, if done for the glory and honor of Jesus, is an extreme and ultimate act of worship! Jesus’s question as to what you and I are willing to waste for his glory and praise is poignant. What would be a risky thing you might do this weekend in worship of Jesus? What decisions can you make with your money for those in need this weekend that those around you, if they knew, would scoff at your wasteful extravagance? What act of generosity, self-sacrifice, or personal loss could you make that would seem foolish in the world’s eyes but would bring honor to Jesus and his Kingdom purposes? How will you waste your money, resources, time, abilities, calendar space, your words, your alone time, or your relationships for Jesus? 

Good Friday is a solemn reminder of Jesus’s death on the cross. The Gospel in its truest, gruesome, most beautiful display. Jesus is being prepared for burial. The spices and perfumes that will cover the stench of the grave are being prepared. I am praying that today may mark the beginning of a wasteful life. Don’t hold back what God draws you to give. Worship. Honor. Risk. Be extravagant. Pour it out. He won’t stay dead for long… He’s coming back… 

May we be found wasteful. 

Nathan 

Nathan Hinkle

Lead Pastor

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