1 Now the Passover and Festival of Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Him covertly and kill Him; 2 for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there will be a riot of the people.”
3 While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, He was reclining at the table, and a woman came with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the vial and poured the perfume over His head. 4 But there were some indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? 5 For this perfume could have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a good deed for Me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. 9 Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the entire world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”
10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them. 11 They were delighted when they heard this, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray Him at an opportune time.
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
There are radical distinctions here between the sinful, fallen, broken world- and- God's kingdom.
- The world does not recognize the Lord Jesus as God, but only sees Him as a stumbling block that gets in their way,
- while those who love God, recognize Him as their Lord and Savior, as this woman certainly did.
- Judas sought a way to betray Jesus and make some money in doing so,
- while the woman went far and above their customary provision of olive oil to anoint the heads of important guests, she gave her very best to the Lord!
- The world tries to look and sound ostentatious with disingenuous and calculated gestures and comments about things like feeding the poor,
- while those who love the Lord serve Him and others, giving freely and generously.
- The world hates God and His righteousness and plots to do away with Him,
- while the unconditional, sacrificial love of Jesus is so great, that He went to the cross and took on all the punishment meant for everyone- even those who hate and reject Him!
- The world wants to judge and criticize others in order to humiliate and control them, in order to look and feel better about themselves,
- while Jesus invites us to eat with Him, and have conversations, in order to reconcile and have a close and meaningful relationship for all eternity.
