Beautiful Love

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “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. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” -Mark 14:3-9

I have to say, I think this is one of the most beautiful stories in the bible, especially as a woman. I first studied it when I read the book Lady in Waiting at summer camp when I was probably in 11th grade (Sidenote: Lady in Waiting is a wonderful book that talks about how to fully dedicate yourself to Christ when you are single - it goes through different aspects of your life that you can work on to draw closer to the Lord like devotion, faith, purity, patience, virtue, etc. It's a great read!). It focused on this story in the first chapter that talked about reckless abandonment toward Christ. For this woman, her alabaster jar of perfume was actually probably her dowry, and the perfume was typically used in a similar manner to that way that it is here to honor the man she was engaged to marry. When I think about this alabaster jar, it seems precious, something near and dear to be held for the most special occasion. But instead of holding onto it, this woman gives it to Jesus, and Jesus finds this act to be completely beautiful. So I know today, we don't have such perfume jars, but I think there are lots of things that we hold close, waiting to give to Mr. Right. We hold our deepest dreams close - our career ambitions, our desire to be loved unconditionally, our craving for romance, our need to be found captivating and beautiful. We tell ourselves that we will just do without until Mr. Right comes along, that only he can satisfy those needs, and that he can have the job of fulfilling the deepest desires of our heart. I love how here, Jesus says it is beautiful for this woman to give the symbol of these desires for her future, to the Lord. I also like that he was pleased because "She did what she could." God doesn't ask her to go do some extremely difficult task or raise a million dollars for a cause, all he wants is for her to give her whole heart and deep desires to Him. I also think it's interesting that the disciples rebuke her for this, because I think it is hard to see sometimes why it is good and beautiful to give these thing to Christ alone. To Christ, the most beautiful love appears to be when one gives her whole heart and deepest desires to Him alone. I pray that today we try to identify ways in which we are holding our heart back from the Lord and to complete surrender our greatest treasures and desires to Him.