In our sermon this morning, we will explore the question, “What is love?” I want us to ponder a particular example of it here. The scene is Bethany, a village just a few miles from Jerusalem. The time is the night before Jesus’ triumphal entry into the city. In just a few days He will be arrested, tried, convicted, and crucified. And Jesus is aware of what awaits him. So what does He do this night? He goes to a party given by Simon, the Leper, to enjoy food, conversation, and a last visit with friends before that fateful week.
As Jesus is reclining at the table along with His disciples, a woman, who must have been a part of the crowd there, is so overwhelmed with emotion that she takes an alabaster jar containing very expensive perfume, breaks the container, and uses all of the precious perfume to anoint the head and feet of Jesus. And some there began immediately to criticize her:
There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Mk 14:4-9)
Jesus was right. What she did that evening has been told and retold down through the centuries as an unexpected example of pure love. This woman was overwhelmed by her love for the Lord. We can learn a few things from her example.
She Expressed Her Love
We are not even sure who this woman was; only John’s parallel account records her name, and he reports it as Mary. But that was—by far—the most common name for Jewish women in the 1st century, including several followers of Jesus, so it does not really help narrow it down.
Some scholars point out the alabaster jar contained expensive perfume commonly used by prostitutes as a tool of their trade. If that is true then this story takes on an even deeper meaning: this woman broke it to give to Jesus. In essence she said, “I once gave myself to the sins of the world; I now give myself to You.” Really think about that: what difference would it make if we gave ourselves to Jesus as enthusiastically as we do other things? Last week was the Super Bowl, marking the end of football season. Each week during the season, tens of thousands of people fill stadiums all over the country to cheer on their favorite teams. It costs them hundreds, even thousands of dollars; they swelter during the early months of the season and shiver in the cold by the end; they cheer themselves hoarse, hollering and screaming and behaving like a fanatic; they walk 3 miles back to the car when they leave and sit in traffic for an hour to get home. And they would tell anyone who’d listen, “I had a wonderful time!”
What sort of revolution would take place in the church if we were so enthusiastic for things of God? This woman was. And without hesitation or reservation she found a way to express it.
She Expressed it Extravagantly
The way she expressed it was an extravagant and foolish act in the eyes of those who watched. But love is often extravagant, isn’t it? All of us can remember buying things we couldn’t afford to give to people we love. We sacrificed to purchase those treasured mementos. But love does things that may appear foolish or extravagant to say, “This is how much I love you.”
It is also interesting to note that this alabaster jar did not have to be broken. She could have just opened it up and poured a few drops of that expensive perfume on Jesus’ head. Everybody would have said, “What a wonderful act of devotion!” Or she could have poured it all on Him, but saved the jar so that it could be filled again. Once more, everybody would have said, “How generous!” But she broke the jar so that it could never be filled again! Because of Jesus she would not be returning to her old way of life again.
So in this one fleeting moment, when the opportunity was there, she seized it. There were those who criticized her. But Jesus knew her heart and what she had done. No wonder He said, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
She Did What She Could
And then He followed up with, “She did what she could.” When I stand before the throne of God— when He opens the Book of Life and comes to my name, when he sees all the sins that are blotted out by the blood of Jesus—I would like to hear that. I can think of no greater praise.
This woman did not have much, but what she had she gave to Jesus. Not to Simon, the Leper, not to Peter, or James or John—she didn’t do it for anybody else. What she did, she did just for Jesus.
Let us, then, ask ourselves: what have I ever done just for Jesus? How have I expressed my love to Him?
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