Matthew 26:6-13 “Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.”
The Scriptures teach that it is not better to give to the poor than it is to give to the Lord. Jesus said, “The poor you have always with you.” You will never run out of opportunities to help the poor, but you may run out of opportunities to give to the Lord. We are not called upon by the Lord to give all of our money to the poor, but it is good to spend some of our money to help the poor, especially orphans, poor widows, and the physically and mentally afflicted. It is not commendable to give money to people who refuse to work, because to do so makes the donor an enabler of laziness and irresponsibility. The government has not done us a favor by confiscating such a large percentage of our income to redistribute to the less fortunate. High taxes for “social purposes” takes the joy out of giving to help the poor, makes a duplication of our personal giving to the poor, and encourages indolence and sloth. And we must remember that those who are spiritually poor (unsaved) are in the worst condition of all, so we should give to the spreading of the gospel.
The woman who broke the alabaster box is identified as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus (John 12:3). She breaks the box, a type of bottle or flask, made from the layered lime stone deposits in stalactites and stalagmites, and found only in Egypt. The bottle itself was very beautiful and very expensive. Mary poured out a full pound of the spikenard, an exceedingly expensive perfume. the perfume was an oil extracted from the nardos plant, found only in India. Spikenard was the highest form of nardos, very rare. This ointment was probably Mary’s life savings. She poured out the perfume to anoint Jesus, and she does so with utter abandonment and with unstinting devotion. Jesus was pleased with what she did. He said that she would be memorialized forever in His Word.
How do we show our devotion? David said, “Neither will I sacrifice unto the Lord that which costs me nothing” (II Samuel 24:24). Our treasure, our time, our emotional energy, and our spiritual gifts must all be dedicated to Him.