The story in Matthew 26:1-8 is fairly well known to those familiar to Christ’s life.  Jesus is nearing the end of his life, and he is dining at Simon the leper’s house when a woman pours expensive ointment from an alabaster jar on Christ’s head.  The English Standard Version (my Bible translation of choice) says the disciples were idignant towards her action.  They thought she had wasted the perfume, that it would have been better to sell the ointment and given the money to the poor.  This is a noble use for the ointment.  Christ preached often on helping the poor, but the disciples have got their priorities mixed up again, focusing too much on the here and now and not enough on the eternal.  Jesus scolds them, showing them how the woman’s use for the ointment was a much higher calling than theirs.  Unlike the disciples, the men closest to Christ, this woman (John 12 identifies the woman as Mary, the sister of Lazurus) had her priorities straight.  Yes, the poor are important, and we should take care of them, but God was among them and not for much longer.  Mary was able to see this when the disciples couldn’t.  Mary was able to appreciate the beauty and worth of the ointment and willing to give it to God, and Christ rewarded her for it by ensuring that her love and awe of him would be forever remembered in the Gospel.

Much love–Char