“And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.” (Matt. 26:6-9)

An instructive record

This little narrative, taken from Matthew’s Gospel, is doubtlessly educative and soaked in provocative thoughts. On it the meditative mind should ruminate in quietness with a sense of introspection, for it exposes our humanity and challenges us to reevaluate our existential criterion in regard to value and investment.

The question

“Why this waste?” the disciples asked. Here the nature of the interrogative was based on their concern for the poor. In fact, they might have thought Jesus was going to be proud of them, for their assessment was, by all appearances, established on His teachings. They had heard things like:

You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Luke 18:22)

That Jesus was thoughtful of the poor and inculcated that thoughtfulness to His disciples is evinced by the Early Church:

… and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.” (Gal. 2:9,10)  

Therefore the question: “Why this waste?” was prompted by a criterion the disciples judged not only valid but also praiseworthy. Nevertheless, in this specific case, they were wrong in their appraisal.

What about us?

Now which kind of relation do we have with the disciples’ question? Would we have agreed with them if we had been present? I suggest most of us would have. Today we have Jesus’ answer to give us direction. But for the disciples it was more complicated. What I am saying is that what seems a waste for some might not be a waste for others, or not a waste at all. As we are about to see, only the Holy Spirit can guide us and make us understand what is a waste and what is not.

Jesus’ answer

Now let’s have a close look to Jesus’ reply:

But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? ⁹ For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.” ¹⁰ But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. ¹¹ For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. ¹² For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. ¹³ Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” (Matt. 26:8–13)

Here Jesus declares that what the woman had done was a good work, and He based His assessment on the fact that, contrary to the poor, He was not going to be with them for much longer. In fact, according to Him, the woman had done this good work for His burial.

So here we have the disciples judging the woman’s action and, according to Jesus, their judgment was not righteous. All this triggers a question: How can we avoid this sort of erroneous judgment? Happily, Jesus gives us clear instructions in this regard:

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (John 7:24)

 

Obviously, appearances can mislead us and therefore cannot be trusted when time comes to judge a situation. No wonder it is said of Jesus:

And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth” (Isaiah 11:3,4).

At this point the question is: How can a person develop such accuracy in judgment? Jesus presents us two basic requirements:

I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30)  

Jesus’ judgment was not based on appearance but on hearing His Father’s voice. Obviously, when Jesus says: “As I hear, I judge”, He is not referring to the hearing of His ears, for as we have just read He was not going to judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears” (Isaiah 11:3). Therefore the hearing Jesus refers to in John 5:30 has to do with the hearing of His heart, not the hearing of His ears, or to put it differently, with His spiritual hearing, not His physical.

Secondly, John 5:30 points out that Jesus could hear His Father’s voice accurately because He didn’t seek His own will but the will of the Father who sent Him. When time comes to hear the Father’s voice this sort of surrender makes an enormous difference.

Back to the original question

The disciples’ question, “Why this waste?” is actually ingrained in our human nature. It might be worded differently but it leads to the same conclusion.

For instance, maybe we are thinking to pray for a while, but soon enough a little voice is heard inside of us saying: “Why this waste of time?” Or maybe we are thinking to go to evangelize in a park loaded with people, but again the voice is there: “Why this waste of time? Relax and be happy. No body will listen to you anyway.” Or maybe a fellow Christian fast and pray for Alexander the drunkard and we think within ourselves: “Why such a waste of time? Alexander has been a drunk for the past 36 years and you can be sure he will not change anytime soon.” Or perhaps brother George supports financially a faithful missionary working in Somalia and we think within our heart: “Why this waste of money? This missionary is not a harvester.” One thing is sure, the old man’s criterion has drifted far and we will do well to question its evaluations.

Some years ago I came to know a family that appreciated our mission exceedingly. They were saying things like: “You guys are doing a wonderful work. More Christians should follow your example. You are a challenge for all of us.” But six months later, when their son wanted to join our team, they were objecting, saying: “Why should you waste your life?”

Now I am not saying waste never happens, for we, Christians, can on occasion waste our time, our money, and God knows what else. I am simply saying that great care must be used to discern what is a waste and what is not. Only the hearing of the Father’s voice can guide us safely, and only when we intend to do His will can we hear it accurately.

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