Matthew 26:6-13: “A Beautiful Thing”

“Why do you trouble this woman?  For she has done a beautiful thing to me,” Jesus in Matthew 26:10

“What can I give back to God for the blessings he poured out on me? I lift high the cup of salvation as a toast to our Father. To follow through on the promise I made to you.”  (U2’s Bono , from his intro to “Where the Streets Have No Name”, during their “Elevation” tour.  Bono is quoting loosely Psalm 116)

 “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, 1674)

Jesus is in the city of Bethany (v. 6) outside of Jerusalem where He resided during the week before His crucifixion (see 21:17).   He is in the house of Simon the Leper (v. 6), who undoubtedly had been healed of his leprosy or he would otherwise be isolated from society (see Leviticus 13:45-46).  From John’s account (John 12:1-8) we learn that Mary, Martha and Lazarus were also there.     As “Martha served” and Lazarus, along with the disciples, “was reclining with Him at the table” (John 12:2), Mary came up to Him (v. 7).

Mary had an alabaster flask of expensive ointment and she poured it on His head (v. 7).  From Mark we learn that it was “pure nard” (Mark 14:3) and was worth “more than three hundred denarii” (Mark 14:5), which was a year’s wages for a laborer.   And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste?  For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor,” (vv. 8-9). 

John adds that it was Judas who protested loudest.  But “not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief” and he was helping “himself to what was put into” the moneybag (John 12:6).   Jesus, aware (omnisciently?) of this complaining calls what Mary did “a beautiful thing” (v. 10).   Then He says something truly remarkable:  “For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have Me,” (v. 11).

Here we have the triumph of the worship of Jesus over the social gospel of good works.  This is a lesson we must learn over and over again.  No doubt, faith without works is dead, James 2:17 teaches.  But equally as dead is works without faith, as the Lord teaches here.   James Sire, in his excellent book, The Universe Next Door, writes how 100 years ago Karl Barth rescued our faith from “theistic existentialism” and “put God very much back in the picture” (p. 131).    In our current day men such as Timothy Keller and John Piper have fought hard so that the worship of Jesus Christ, not human effort and good works, is central to being Christian.

And this passage here emphasizes the lesson of the parable of the sheep and goats (25:31-36).  For if the parable merely taught good works, then Judas’ complaint would have been received and blessed by Jesus.   Instead, we have Jesus teaching that the bulls-eye of Christianity is the worship of, and a relationship with, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.   This is even more central to our faith than the feeding of the poor.

Jesus continues, “In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial,” (v. 12).   Jesus continues the theme of His death, proving He knew full well what was coming.   But for one man at the table this may have been the last straw, realizing that Jesus was not the political messiah he had hoped for.

As His disciples, we should live lives of good works.   But we must remember exactly what it is that the Lord calls “a beautiful thing” (v. 10).  We do not want the Lord to accuse us in our pursuit of good works, as He said to the church at Ephesus, that “you have left your first love,” (Revelation 2:4, NASB).   Remembering the priority of worship is why our Lord said of Mary, “Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her,” (v. 13).  What an honor!