ESOCS Devotional 19 March 2024 – Nothing Too Expensive For Christ
MEMORY VERSE: “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” Matthew 26:7
TEXT: MATTHEW 26:1-13
And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples,
2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
3 Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
4 And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.
5 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
7 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.
8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.
10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
13 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.
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May we start this devotional study by pondering on the contradiction of the characters in this passage. Firstly, we have the chief priests and scribes and elders and of course the high priest in whose palace this nocturnal meeting took place to plot the subtle killing of the Messiah whom they ought to promote His course. It was product of envy and jealousy, which had blinded their eyes that they could not recognize the much-awaited messiah.
Next, we see a woman with no theological training whatsoever, no pastoral or leadership office but whom we can identify as having benefitted spiritually from the Redeemer (Jn. 12:1-3). For her, it was time to show appreciation and love to her deliverer, and nothing can be too expensive to sacrifice for Him, not even the whole box of expensive spikenard oil. Hear the song writer: “Great gifts I brought to thee, what hast thou brought to me?”
Next, we see the disciples who had been with Jesus for almost three years react to the spending of such precious oil upon the Savior and calling it a waste (v 8), saying that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. But thank God, the Lord understood, approved the sacrifice and blessed the woman with a perpetual blessing.
If the case of the high priest and his collaborators was envy, what was the trouble of the Lord’s disciples? Some say it was Judas because he was the Treasurer. Whatever it was, the lesson we must learn is that no sacrifice can be too great for our Savior who left His glorious throne above, was buffeted for our sins, flogged and spat upon, nailed to the cross in our stead, died our shameful death in order to give us life. No gift to the Church, which is His body can be too expensive. The gift that is too expensive for our Savior is not available anywhere on planet earth.
Let us examine ourselves in the light of the hymnal’s question: “I gave my life for thee, what hast thou given for me?” As we reach out to our pockets for thanksgiving, alms, tithes and offering, how much is too much to give to the Lord? Let’s be reminded that the minimum we can give to the Lord is our “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, unto the Lord’’ (Rom. 12:1).
- Have you ever been angry with someone for coming to church with a great item for thanksgiving? That is the spirit of envy. Ask for mercy and cast it out of you.
- Lord, teach me to love and give unto your body, as the woman with the expensive ointment did.
Further Reading: 2 Samuel 24:22-25; John 12:1-8
ESOCS Devotional 19 March 2024
