It was the Eve of Agony.
About to be broken. About to be killed. The blood of the Lamb of God would be spilled in just a few short days and lavished upon us to cover our sins.
Who could grasp the weight of such an extravagant gift? One person in particular seems to have understood the significance of the moment, responding with an extravagant gift of her own.
Jesus was in the town of Bethany, having dinner with friends in the home of Simon the leper. “A woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, ‘Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.’ And they scolded her.
“But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her’” (Mark 14:3–9).
Here we are still to this day remembering the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord—and remembering the beautiful act of an impulsive woman.
Do you grasp the weight of God’s love this week? Being the door through which your salvation is at hand? “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).
Do you have an impulse to love Him in return? How will you love Jesus with extravagance?
