Wherever the Gospel Is Preached, What She Has Done Will Be Told, in Memory of Her
Mark 14:3–9
Before the Passover, Jesus was in Bethany, reclining at the table, at the home of Simon the Leper. A woman came close to Jesus with a jar. There was very expensive perfume in the jar, which ordinary people could not even afford it. The woman broke the jar and poured the perfume on the head of Jesus. The whole house was filled with the aroma of the perfume.
Some of those present were surprised and rebuked her, saying,
“Why this waste of expensive perfume? It could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor!”
Seeing this, Jesus stopped them.
“Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
People want to express their heartfelt honor and gratitude with the best thing that they have. The woman wanted to express her gratitude with the best thing she had for the grace she had received from Jesus. By pouring the perfume on Jesus, she did a beautiful thing to Christ and wherever the gospel was preached, what she did was told. In the deed of the woman, there was no other calculation except the desire to express her gratitude. Jesus was pleased with her earnestness, not the perfume itself.
God pleases the most with our sincere thanks to God for forgiving our sins, rather than with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil. Only those who are willing to practice God’s pleasing work, without setting forth their logic, can leave their mark in the gospel work.
