To Encourage You

Matthew 26:6-8 “Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,a 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. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, ‘Why this waste?’”

“One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” We’ve all heard that saying, particularly during the time of yard sales each summer.  But the saying is indeed true, and its application goes far beyond how someone values someone else’s used stuff.  In the account above, the woman with the expensive ointment obviously put a much higher value on worshiping Jesus than she did on the ointment.  To the disciples, however, she had totally trashed her treasure.  Elsewhere, the disciple that instigated this displeasure is named. It was Judas (John 12:4-5).  It was his opinion that if she would have just given the ointment to them (and he was the treasurer) they could have sold it and given the money to the poor.  That was a lie, however, as the Scriptures points out that Judas’ real motive was theft of the money for his own use (John 12:6).  To his displeasure, she had wasted this valuable thing on Jesus. 

So, what about us?  Do we ever view things that could be used for service to the Master as a waste?  How tightly do we hold on to things that we have the complete freedom to use in service to Him, or not?  This could apply to anything we hold dear.  Maybe it’s a relationship – whereby if we were to give our all to Christ, that relationship we value highly could be lost.  Perhaps it’s money – where giving to the work of the Lord means a little less for us, be it a lesser home, or a lesser vacation, or a lesser vehicle – things we put much value in.  Or perhaps it’s time – perhaps we give an hour or two of our time to attend church each Sunday morning, but we’ve got other things to do then spend additional time in Bible study or prayer, be it with other Christians or alone at other times in the week.  That’s our time, and we don’t want to waste it. 

That begs the question, is anything we sincerely give to the Lord ever wasted – especially when compared to what we give to other pursuits?  Jesus answered that for us when He said these words: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).   How seriously we take these words of Christ will be revealed in how we use the things that are ours that we are free to use as we wish.

Judas revealed his value system when, soon after the account of the woman who anointed Jesus’ head with ointment, he traded in life with Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Soon afterward he lost the money, his life, and his soul for all eternity.  And so, he became known as the “son of destruction” (John 17:12).  That word “destruction” is the same word translated as “waste” in Judas’ own words recorded in Matthew 26 above.  Meanwhile, the woman he rebuked has become a joint-heir with Christ of all the riches of heaven, forever.  She knows now that she wasted nothing by spilling out her own precious ointment on the head of the one who soon afterward would spill out His own precious blood on the cross for her.  Pretty good trade-off, if you ask me.