Reflection from my reading in Matthew 26:1-25  in the One Year Bible New Testament. 

One woman was commended by Jesus for worshiping him radically. Here’s the story. Jesus was eating and a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar full of expensive perfume. She poured it over his head, to the shock of the audience.

The disciples were bothered by this because it seemed like a waste of perfectly good perfume. They could have sold it and given the money to the poor! Jesus responded.

A Beautiful Thing

“Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.” Matthew 26:10

Jesus called it a beautiful thing. Sacrificial worship is a beautiful thing. When we come to God, we should not be afraid of giving too much. We should pour out our hearts and be generous with our money, knowing that we can never out-give God.

Celebrate Jesus’ Presence

“For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.” Matthew 26:11–12

Jesus demonstrated over and over his care for the less fortunate. That is not the point of this verse. The point is that the woman was right in doing this because she did it out of a heart of worship.

She was right in celebrating his presence, and in a way she also prepared his body for burial!

Worship Like This

“Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Matthew 26:13

Jesus is right; that story has been told over and over because it was included in the New Testament! This brave woman shows us that true worship can be radical, sacrificial and does not have to fit the social norms.

Her story is an example for all Christians to worship Christ with everything that we are.

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