Yesterday morning our pastor preached on the beginning of Matthew 26, including a little story that has long been one of my favorites. A woman (identified in John as Mary the sister of Lazarus) breaks a flask of expensive oil over Jesus' head, anointing Him with it, and the disciples (specifically Judas, as John again points out) become indignant because they feel like it was a waste, when it could have instead been sold and the money used to care for the poor. But I love Jesus' response:
"Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me." (v10)
That word "good" is translated as "beautiful" in other versions; I looked it up on Blue Letter Bible's handy online concordance and found the word can mean: beautiful, excellent, surpassing, precious, admirable, praiseworthy, or honorable (among other things). That concept of her act being a beautiful work really stands out to me, and I think maybe it could help me better understand what beauty is in God's eyes. So why was this particular act so beautiful and precious to Jesus? I think there are three primary reasons.
First, it was wholehearted and unreserved. She held nothing back from Him, and offered to Him what was probably the most valuable thing she owned. She didn't give grudgingly or out of compulsion, but freely and richly out of the depths of her love for Him.
Second, it was an act of worship. She knew who He was - the Son of God and the Messiah - and was honoring Him accordingly, submitting herself to Him and living for His glory. In addition, she wasn't doing it to gain the admiration or approval of the other people watching. She simply wanted to praise and glorify Jesus.
Finally, it was born out of knowledge of and submission to His plan. The disciples still didn't entirely understand that Jesus' plan was to suffer and die, but she did, and anointed Him for His burial. When they did begin to understand what He meant to do, they tried to change His plan, but she accepted it in trust and chose to follow and honor Him as He worked out His purpose. That is the attitude God wants us to have, I think - one of acceptance and trust, giving honor and worship to Him.
So we and our works are beautiful to God when we follow the pattern Mary set, regardless of what the world or even other Christians think of us. What matters is our heart before God - that we submit to His plan and worship Him without holding any part of us back from Him.
:D I really love your insights Kristina. They seem to always make me see things in a slightly different angle that expands the understanding I currently have on a passage in the bible.
ReplyDeleteReplacing the work good with a word such as beautiful totally changes how I look at the passage and really understand what is meant by "good works". Another thing that I see that is so amazing about this passage is that the beautiful work done by Mary is a selfless act and one of humility. I find it awesome that Jesus finds works such as this beautiful.
Paul
Thanks Paul :)
ReplyDeleteI really like what you saw too :) That is a good way of describing what Mary did. It is really encouraging to me that Jesus finds things like that beautiful because it gives me more motivation to try to live that way!