For every action, there is a motive. That motive could be conscious or hidden, logical or emotional, manipulative or sacrificing. In today’s passage from Mark, we encounter motivated people and one truth.
“It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a cunning way to arrest Jesus and kill him. “Not during the festival,” they said, “so that there won’t be a riot among the people.” While he was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured it on his head. But some were expressing indignation to one another: “Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they began to scold her. Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing for me. You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body in advance for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. And when they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him money. So he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him.” (Mark 14:1–11, CSB)
We are told early on that the chief priests and scribes were looking for a way to arrest and kill Jesus. Their motive is to retain power and maintain political stability. In their calculation, it was better for one man to die than lose a nation. (John 11:49-50)
A woman (we are told in John’s Gospel that it was Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha) anointed Jesus with astronomically expensive pure nard. Imagine how that scent would have filled the room. That perfume cost her about a year’s wage for the average worker. What motivated Mary? Gratitude perhaps.
And lastly, there is Judas. We are told in John’s account of this moment (John 12:1-8) that it was Judas who questioned the expense of such a lavish gift. Many have thought about Judas’s motivation for betraying Jesus. Greed played a role. And perhaps some twisted logic about forcing Christ’s hand to establish an earthly kingdom.
In the bookends of the religious leaders and Judas, their greed is evident. In Jesus and Mary, we see sacrificial giving for the sake of others. Jesus is soon to be arrested and crucified. Mary, with her expensive gift held in an alabaster jar. Mary gave her best; Jesus gave His all.
What is our alabaster jar? Jesus was clear: the work of the kingdom will always be there, but what Mary did will always be remembered. And what did she do? She worshipped. She gave. And while it isn’t recorded that she said anything, her worship filled the room and impacted everyone.
Our most precious commodity is time. Her gift was measured in time; the denarii were a day’s wage. We can be greedy with our time or be generous with it. The richest person and the poorest person have the same amount of time each day.
What is our alabaster jar? The giving of our time to Jesus in worship, prayer, reading His Word, and loving service to others. That is a musky, sweet-smelling perfume that will penetrate our world.
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