“For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.” (Mark 14:5)
I would ask you to look at the Lord’s response to this woman’s offering, “She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.” (Mark 14:8)
This woman, perhaps appropriately called a lady, was not wealthy, she did not go and purchase this item on a whim, this was not using her extra income for selfish reasons, perhaps she saved up many years for it, or perhaps it was a gift to her, but it was all she had.
Two verses come to mind here.
“And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.” (Mark 12:42)
And the words of Abraham as he spoke to his son, walking three days journey to obey the Almighty. “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.” (Gen. 22:8)
The ointment this woman poured over the Lord’s head was not only the best she had, it was all she had, it possibly was her most prized possession. When she first received it, it was precious to her, it was her treasure, she may have kept it hidden, perhaps only revealing it to her closest friends. How she came about it is important, for in some fashion the Lord had made sure she received it, no different than that ram caught in the thicket.
It is her heart you must look at, the moment that her most prized possession changed from that box to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is only conjecture on my part, but I do not believe there was a struggle within her when that moment came, I do not believe she paused on the way to find Christ, considering the value of that ointment not only in its financial way, but in the value of it to her heart. She did not weigh its earthly weight against the love she felt for her Savior. She gave all she had, rejoiced in her ability to do so, and possibly did not even register in her mind the Lord’s words after she did so.
But in a small and humbling way, I am being used, as many before me have, to fulfill these words. “Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” (Mark 14:9)
In your life, is there a ram in the thicket you have other plans for, are you willing to give to Him the very last of your financial resources if He so asks it of you? Does the most precious item in your possession belong to Him?
“For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1st Cor. 4:7)
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21)
Many of us have been blessed with the ability to accumulate things, some are ordinary, others are prized possessions we cherish, keeping them under lock and key. If the Most High determines to remove them from us, is it because we did not offer all of them willingly to Him with a rejoicing heart?
I do not personally believe this woman gave even a second thought to her intended actions, she did not grudgingly walk with her offering to find the Savior, she ran with great joy, desiring to not give not only the best she had, but all she had, and after the Lord departed from her side there was no pride in her heart, she did not feel a sense of great accomplishment, she did not rush out to tell her friends what she had done.
Love was the reason for her actions.
My friends, what do you have that does not belong to the Living God, what do you have in your possession that you are unwilling to part with, to offer to Him freely, without hesitation. What would you not give Him with great joy?
“The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1)
How many of us hold items, even loved ones, closer to our heart than the Lord Jesus Christ?
She did not give some, but all she had.
