4. Mark 14:3
While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.
Why do you think the woman did this? The oil she used was expensive, incredibly expensive. Her act is therefore extravagant, even wasteful. So why did she do it? Did she have some foreknowledge of what was going to happen to Jesus? Certainly Jesus recognizes in her act a preparation for his death, but did she know that?
Or is she, perhaps, just caught up in the moment? If I had to guess, that’s what I’d say: that somehow she can’t help herself. In fact, I suspect most acts of devotion are like that. You get so caught up in gratitude that for a moment or two you forget everything else – including yourself – and simply give thanks.
So perhaps it wasn’t that this woman could see the future but that she had known Jesus in her past. Perhaps she is one of the countless persons whom Jesus touched, or healed, and in this way elevated, and now upon seeing him all she can do is give thanks in the only way she knows how – by taking her expensive ointment and anointing his head as a mark of honor and gratitude.
So what are you thankful for? What is one thing for which you could be wasteful in gratitude? Think for a moment, and then let yourself be caught up in a similar act of devotion and gratitude for that person, or experience, or thing, or whatever…and for the God who made it and gave it to you.
Prayer: Dear God, let us be aware of the many gifts you give us and, recognizing them, let us be grateful and in this way be caught up in you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Painting, Jesus Anointed at Bethany, by Donald Krause
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