Lessons from the Alabaster Jar (part 2)
Don’t let your opinion of what others should or should not be doing send you into a spiral.
About two months ago, I shared the story of Mary’s act of anointing Jesus’s feet with costly perfume. Her experience reminds us that true worship isn’t always understood or applauded by others, and that our faith isn’t about public approval but wholehearted surrender to God. If you missed it, you can check it out on August 11th.
This time I want to focus on other key players in the story – those who were set as antagonists to Mary: the disciples.
While they weren’t wrong that a jar of pure nard could have been cashed in to help the poor in an insurmountable fashion, Jesus rebukes the disciples for chastising her.
As much as I would like to see myself as Mary in this story, pouring out every precious thing I hold dear to my heart to a Savior who is worthy of it all, I can sometimes find myself in the shoes of the disciples – judging the actions of others.
I’m not talking about judging the sin of others. I’m talking about either looking at the good that others are doing or maybe even the things that I don’t quite understand, and looking for reasons to criticize or find fault.
I doubt that I am alone. Have you ever thought any of the following:
If I were her, I wouldn’t have…
That’s nice and all, but they should have….
Honestly, I don’t get why they just didn’t…
That’s cute, but what they really need to do is…
Don’t they care about…
In this story’s account in Matthew 26, I found it striking that immediately following Jesus’ rebuke to the disciples for their indignation towards Mary, we see the immediate actions of one particular man – Judas.
Though much could be said regarding Judas’ motivations in all of this, what is unmistakable is that this event seems to be the catalyst that pushes him to betray Jesus. Immediately following the rebuke, we are told “Then Judas…went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them” (Mark 14:7).
In today’s modern times, it’s easy to get caught up in a judgment fest since we have windows into so many people’s lives through social media. But we would do well to remember that our thoughts are an overflow of the heart, and what we see is often not the full picture.
So I want to leave you with this thought:
Let’s be careful not to get entangled by what we think someone should be doing. We might miss the beauty or purpose in what they are doing – especially when God is at work in ways we simply don’t understand yet.