Joel M Bradshaw

6Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 

10But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”–Matthew 26

1. We wonder if Simon got healed by Jesus and then opened his home for him to have meals with people.
2. The disciples should have known better than to bother the woman.
3. I tell my son a similar principle all the time. When you are in public with me, watch for my response and respond like me. If I am not upset about a situation, you probably shouldn’t be overreacting.
4. The disciples should have been silent and taken their cue from Jesus.
5. The woman was most likely not in her mind anointing Jesus for burial. But Jesus interpreted her service with that perspective.
6. We don’t know how God will use our humble service. We don’t know the results in the lives of others. We simply serve. She offered a very costly sacrifice to Jesus. That kind of worship doesn’t come from a generous attitude so much as a grateful and thankful one.
7. Worship flows from gratitude. Does yours? Would you find yourself critical of her or worshiping like her? We keep Jesus’ words alive and tell this woman’s brief story again!–JMB