“WHY THIS WASTE?”

Those are the words of some of the closest followers of Jesus when they saw something happen that they just couldn’t get their heads around:

Mark 14:3-5 - “And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. [4] There were some who said to themselves indignantly, ‘Why was the ointment wasted like that? [5] For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.’ And they scolded her.”

This is a few days before Jesus lays down His life to redeem the world. He’s about to wash away all the sins that human effort at reform and acts of social justice for the poor will never erase.

We can’t know for sure, but Jesus at least hints that she may have understood something of Jesus’ coming death and burial - Verse 8 - "She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial."

I don’t know if you’ve ever taken the time to track it, but Jesus seemed to draw out extravagant responses to His presence. A respectable man climbs up into a tree, blind beggars won’t stop shouting, an unclean woman shoves her way through the crowd, a sick man’s friends rip up the roof while Jesus is preaching - small responses disappear around Jesus.

Small followers of Jesus never get this - “Why was the ointment wasted like that?” (4). There’s always other things to do with that kind of money.

Yet Jesus says we need the example of this woman. Watch her as she takes 300 days of hard labor and pours it over Jesus’ head. See that expensive treasure running down Jesus’ beard and pooling on the floor.

All the while these critics are doing the math. They know exactly how much that perfume is worth. They’ve crunched the numbers. That treasure should have been kept in that jar - that RRSP - that Mutual Fund - that Real Estate - that new business venture. We never spend money neutrally. We worship our way through our treasures.

But Jesus is stunned that there would be any criticism of this woman’s sacrifice. Where other’s saw loss, Jesus saw love. Where they tracked waste, Jesus saw beauty. Her broken jar only manifested her devoted heart.

Here’s the issue. Why do we have treasures anyway? Why 300 days worth of money? Why energy? Why health? Why youth? Why skill?

It’s all so we will have some jar to break for our King - some sacrifice to purify our heart. For your own soul, do that today.