Many Unanswered Questions

Matthew 26 : 6 - 13

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.



When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

This story never struck me until I was asked to sing a song about this called Alabaster Box.  This story tells us that sometimes it's about an individual, not the masses.  People get so involved in helping the environment, or the cause, that they forget the people. 

I thought I would have a lot of time to say what I want to say about Easter/Resurrection week.  But it has slipped through my fingers because of exhaustion, surgeries, and life.  I see the greater good of everything, but do not make use of my time the way I should.  Christ used this last week of his earthly life to spend it with friends.  In this instance, he went to a dinner with his disciples and used the time to teach us a lesson.  I am not sure the lesson actually got through to the disciples though.  They may have understood later, but they thought Jesus was a strange bird at times.  He talked about helping the poor, yet when he did something like this it may have been confusing to them.

I like this story because he tells them that he is going to die, but he did not make that the point of this story.  He made the point of the story that this woman would be remembered for her part in the story.  He loved her for doing this wonderful thing for him.  But what caused her to actually do this?  Why did this woman have such a strong desired to anoint Christ's body?  Was that something that God put in her heart?  Because surely, no one understood what he was really about to do.  Was she scared that the leaders were really going to kill him?  Was she privy to that information?  I don't think we will ever know.  What we do know is that sometimes the individual act is more important than total cause.