Was It a Waste? The little town of Bethany, located a few miles from Jerusalem on the road to Jericho, was the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Here the Lord found a home away from home. Here was a home in which He was always welcome. Often He would go from the city and the angry mobs who rejected His teaching, to the quiet atmosphere of this home in Bethany. They loved Him—not just for the loaves and fishes as many of the multitudes did, but just for Himself. Here Mary and Martha ministered to Him and helped Him get some much-needed rest. In this little town a beautiful thing was done which must have brought great joy to the Lord Jesus. We read about it in Matthew 26:6–13: “Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, “There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. “But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, to what purpose is this waste? “For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. “When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. “For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. “For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. “Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.” John’s Gospel tells us that it was Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, who anointed the Saviour that day. In those days people would recline at a low table rather than sit in straight chairs as they ate. On this occasion, as they were at the meal, Mary picked up some expensive perfume and, standing behind the Lord, poured it upon His head. It was a spontaneous act of love and devotion. It has been estimated that the value of the perfume was equal to what a laboring man’s wages would have been for one year. Mary may have kept it for a long time for just such an occasion as this. Anyway, she wanted to do something to show her love for the Saviour, so she gave Him the best and most expensive possession she had. John tells us that she poured the ointment on the Lord’s feet also. This would be very understandable, for such an action was not uncommon in Eastern countries. The heat was very great, and the feet, which were exposed in sandals, were often dry and scorched by the sun and sand. Gifts to God Show Love and Devotion The Holy Spirit has preserved every little detail of this act of devotion for us. We are told the kind of ointment, its weight, its value and the container in which it was kept. As Mary broke the box and poured the perfume on the Lord’s body, the fragrance would tell all in the house how Mary loved the Lord Jesus. Can people tell by our lives and actions that we love Him? They can when they see us giving Him our best. I once heard of an old man in an art gallery looking intently at a painting of the crucifixion of Christ. He stood before the picture transfixed, and a group of people gathered about him. He was seemingly oblivious of the crowd. But then after a while he was heard to say: “Oh, how I love Him! OH, HOW I LOVE HIM!” This is what our Lord wants from us, and we demonstrate our love by the place we give Him in our lives. Isn’t it wonderful that little, insignificant people can do something that makes the Lord of glory rejoice? During a prolonged illness of mine, a certain doctor was very kind and helpful to me. After recovering, I wanted to do something nice for him at Christmastime to show my gratitude. Since he could buy practically anything he wanted, it was difficult to think of anything I could give which he did not already have. When I spoke about the matter to the nurse who worked in his office, she told me that he was very fond of a certain kind of expensive, imported socks which he occasionally bought for himself. It seemed a strange thing to buy him two pairs of socks as a Christmas gift, but these were not ordinary socks. When he received them, I was told that he was very pleased. So it is with our devotion to the Lord Jesus. He needs nothing that we can give Him. We could never give Him anything which in any way would be commensurate with His greatness and goodness to us. But we can give Him something that will make Him rejoice— our devotion and love. Gifts to God Not Wasted When the disciples saw what Mary had done, they said, “To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.” Actually, Judas led the criticism, and then the others joined in. Judas was not really concerned about the poor, but he was treasurer of the group of apostles, and he was a thief. Mary had simply yielded to the great impulse of her love for Christ, and now she was being accused of waste and lack of concern for the poor. Judas could not understand such love as this. Mary was demonstrating her gratitude and love, and these were not for sale. Generosity and sacrifice for Christ are never wasted. Love never begrudges anything given to the Lord. Someone once wrote, “Cold-heartedness toward Christ and stinginess toward His cause always go together.” It has been pointed out that this was the first utterance of Judas recorded in the Gospels. How it reveals the condition of his heart! He posed as a friend of the poor but was, in reality, a thief. “What waste!” he said. But is anything waste which we give to our Lord? Such reasoning is the reasoning of an unregenerate heart. A young and talented person goes into the Lord’s service instead of taking up a lucrative career, and the world says, “What waste!” A highly trained young person answers the call to the mission field instead of taking some good position in the secular world, and someone says, “What waste!” This is not to say that it is wrong for Christians to hold well paying jobs if that is God’s will for them. But we must never allow ourselves to think that gifted people are foolish if they pass by such opportunities and dedicate themselves to the service of Christ and others, with only a modest or small income. I know a well-trained physician who has devoted his life to working on a tropical island, treating people who cannot pay for his services. The average income of these people is only a few hundred dollars a year, so he lives on missionary support from the States. But I can hear many who do not see things from the Christian viewpoint saying, “ What waste!” A Christian gives up his evenings of leisure at home and instead gives hours each week to serving the Lord in visitation or teaching or youth work, and the world thinks, “What waste!” Some Christians who have plenty of this world’s goods choose to live more simply than would be necessary, in order to give more money to God’s work, and the world says, “What waste!” It is all in the way you look at things and the way you feel about the Saviour who gave His all for us. The perfume with which Mary anointed the Lord was the most precious possession she could give to Him. She had already given Him her heart, and this was the outward expression of that devotion. If love gives, and giving is the measure of love, how much do we really love the Lord? Too many give God the things that don’t mean anything to them—and keep the best for themselves. Some give God whatever time is left after they do what they want to do with the choice time, and whatever money they can spare after they have put their own wants first. This was not the spirit of Mary. Notice how the Lord appraised her act. “She hath wrought a good work upon me.” It was a beautiful deed because of its motive. It may have looked foolish to others, but to the Lord it was beautiful. Instead of calling it waste, He called it a beautiful work. This was true worship. As we review what we have done for Him and given to Him, do we get a warm feeling of satisfaction in knowing that this is our way of telling Him how much we love Him? How much we appreciate Him? There was one heart in that house in Bethany, which came very near to the Lord Jesus, and it beat in the breast of Mary. The Lord said that this was a very special occasion. He was certainly concerned about the poor more than anyone else there. He was surely more concerned than the hypocrite Judas. But there would be many opportunities to help the poor later. He would be with them only a very short time. Soon He would be on His way to the cross. There was only a little time to do anything to show their affection for Him. If Mary had not taken this opportunity to show her love to Christ, she probably would never have had such an opportunity again. Today is our day of opportunity to have fellowship with our Lord and to show our devotion to Him, while the world rejects Him. But this opportunity will not be ours for very long. Gifts to God Have Far-Reaching Effects Jesus said Mary had anointed Him against His burial. Perhaps she understood better than the rest what was about to take place in Jerusalem. Or she may not have had this in mind. We do not know. But His thoughts that day were on that occasion when He would soon die for the sins of mankind. He accepted Mary’s action as anointing for His burial. Then He promised that this loving deed would abide as long as the Gospel is preached. Other monuments and memorials have been erected down through the centuries, and many of them have crumbled—but this memorial remains. We never know the far-reaching effects of our actions and kindness. I don’t suppose I would ever have gone to Bible school had it not been for a rural Methodist pastor who urged me to enroll and later drove me five hundred miles and helped me get started. I am sure he will share in whatever reward may come my way from our Lord after my ministry is finished. Each summer a concert singer from Chicago would visit the humble home of his parents in a little Ohio town where I lived. He took an interest in me and my desire to make something of myself, and his help and encouragement meant a great deal to me as a young seventeen-year-old boy. Dr. Paul Rader, the prominent evangelist, and George Schuler, the songwriter and my teacher, probably never realized that because of their personal interest and encouragement, I was impelled to go on as a student and not give up because it seemed such a long, impossible way to full-time Christian work in those Depression days. It probably seemed like an insignificant thing to them to show kindness to an obscure young man and to speak a few words of encouragement. They probably did it for many. But coming from them, it was the boost I needed to keep going instead of returning home. Yes, Mary didn’t realize that two thousand years after her loving act of devotion, we would be speaking of it and would be encouraged to follow her example. And none of us knows how far-reaching any small act of love may be today. Judas went from this happy scene to sell the Saviour for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a common slave. No wonder he thought it great waste to anoint the Lo rd with expensive perfume. His estimate of the Lord’s worth was only the price of a slave. It might be well for each of us to ask himself what value he places upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Mary was a worshiper, but Judas was a thief. She did what she could for the Lord, but Judas did what he could against Him. We read that Judas went to his own place, which is Hell, but Mary has gone down in the hearts of believers all around the world in a place of honor. Mary did what she could. Can that be said of you and me? Two eyes to look to God, Two ears to hear His Word, Two feet to serve the Lord, Two hands to wield His Sword, One heart to love His ways, One tongue to sing His praise— Take them, Saviour, let them be Always busy, serving Thee!
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 17:08:28 +0000
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