A Woman Prepares Jesus’s Body for Burial
Today’s passage: Matthew 26:6–13 and Mark 14:3–9
Focus verse: “When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.” (Matthew 26:12)
As we continue reading about Jesus’s last week on earth before his execution, Matthew notes he is now in Bethany and not Jerusalem. This hints that Bethany is where Jesus goes each night when he leaves Jerusalem.
It makes sense that he wouldn’t stay in Jerusalem because it’s packed with people who traveled there to take part in the annual Passover celebration.
Bible scholars say that the two cities are about two miles apart (3.2 kilometers), with the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane near Bethany. Bethany is also where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus live.
While in Bethany, at the home of Simon the Leper, a woman shows up with a bottle of expensive perfume. She pours it over Jesus’s head as he reclines at the table.
Mark notes that the perfume is worth more than a year’s wages. Pause a moment to consider using your annual income in a moment, and then it’s gone.
What she did is wasteful from a human standpoint but extravagant from an adoration perspective.
Jesus’s disciples and others who are there criticize the waste, suggesting a better use would have been to sell the perfume and give the money to the poor.
Again, consider how many people you could help and how much good you could do if you used your entire income for a year to bless them.
As is often the case, Jesus has a counter perspective.
He defends her actions, calling it a beautiful thing—a grand expression. By anointing him, she symbolically prepares his body for burial.
Her actions parallel the Old Testament practice of anointing a leader (Leviticus 8:12 and 1 Samuel 10:1; also see Psalm 23:5).
Jesus predicts that history will remember her forever for what she did. Since we have this event recorded in the Bible and are still reading about it over two thousand years later, he is right.
Jesus is always right.
Questions:
- What extravagant action can we take for Jesus?
- What can we do to help meet the needs of those who are poor and struggling?
- Is there a way to balance the two or make them coincide?
Prayer: Lord, may we use what you have blessed us with to advance your kingdom and, in doing so, store up treasures in heaven.
[This devotional is taken from the Day 18 reading in The Passion of Jesus.]
Discover more about celebrating Jesus and his passion to save us in devotional The Passion of Jesus. It is part of the Holiday Celebration Devotionals Series.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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