Woman with the Alabaster Box
In Matthew 26:6:13, you will read of a woman, which to me is the most fascinating woman in the New Testament. The Bible does not record her name, though she is mentioned in three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke.
This section of Matthew, chapter 2 that is, is about Jesus’ coming death.
Mat 26:2-5 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. 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, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
Now while Jesus is in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, here comes this woman with an alabaster box of very precious ointment (v. 7), and pours it on Jesus’ head. Here’s what I find very interesting. Jesus Christ knows that his time is short and has two days before his crucifixion, and though he has been mentioning it to his disciples, they were never able to comprehend it. His disciples, however, seemed to understand the concept of charity, for this was their answer:
Mat 26:8-9 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.
And this is Jesus’ response:
Mat 26:10-12 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.
How did this woman who appears to us out of the blue, seem to have known and understood that her Saviour would soon die for her sins. That is beyond me. And here we have his disciples who were with him from day one, and though it is great that they knew charity, hadn’t yet realized that Christ came not to live, but to die and to lay down his life that they may freely obtain it.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is kind in that he recognized her good deed. For she hath wrought a good work upon me.
Mat 26:13 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.
What a blessing coming from the mouth of Jesus Christ. Someday in eternal heaven I will meet and will ask her, “how did you know?”.
This section of Matthew, chapter 2 that is, is about Jesus’ coming death.
Mat 26:2-5 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. 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, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
Now while Jesus is in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, here comes this woman with an alabaster box of very precious ointment (v. 7), and pours it on Jesus’ head. Here’s what I find very interesting. Jesus Christ knows that his time is short and has two days before his crucifixion, and though he has been mentioning it to his disciples, they were never able to comprehend it. His disciples, however, seemed to understand the concept of charity, for this was their answer:
Mat 26:8-9 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.
And this is Jesus’ response:
Mat 26:10-12 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.
How did this woman who appears to us out of the blue, seem to have known and understood that her Saviour would soon die for her sins. That is beyond me. And here we have his disciples who were with him from day one, and though it is great that they knew charity, hadn’t yet realized that Christ came not to live, but to die and to lay down his life that they may freely obtain it.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is kind in that he recognized her good deed. For she hath wrought a good work upon me.
Mat 26:13 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.
What a blessing coming from the mouth of Jesus Christ. Someday in eternal heaven I will meet and will ask her, “how did you know?”.
posted by Redeemed @ 4:06 PM
18 Comments:
Jesus does not say that she did know.
The perfume annointed Him for burial, but that does not necessarilly mean that she understood what she was doing. The priests of the Old Testament probably knew almost nothing of the typical significance of the rites of the temple.
The woman was almost certainly moved to do this by the Holy Spirit.
Every Blessing in Christ
Matthew
What struck me more than anything from that passage was "To what purpose is this waste?" OUCH. Waste? That smarts. A precious thing given to the Lord is never a waste, though it may seem that way to others.
Matthew, you make a good point. The Holy Spirit probably did move her to do this. What a great calling! I love when Jesus says that he "understood" her action.
Carey, so true, how can they say "to what purpose is this waste?" How can it be a waste? Good point!!
Sarah,
I want to suggest to you that the woman's name was Mary, the sister of Lazarus.
I can prove it to you from parallel passages in the NT.
Mom
Really? Sure, you can show me. I didn't know that. Interesting!
Yes, it does talk about Mary doing such a deed.
I am not sure that most commentators take that view. However, the majority are usually wrong.
God Bless
Matthew
I am still waiting for Consecrated to show me; maybe today!
I have actually heard that. Leila, you should do a post about it. I'd like to see too.
sure. soon.
That would be nice, Consecrated.
Pls. remind me Sarah.
does this count?
haha, ok, will be sure to remind you :)
She is wrong; there is nothing that would lead one to believe this was Mary. She is confusing the woman with the alabaster box with Mary, mentioned later in John; there is no mention of an alabaster box and it is his feet she anoints, not his head.
John 12:1-3: "took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment."
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I am due to give a talk on this topic at my church and was a little confused on a number of things, a)is there two incidents of Jesus being annointed, one gospels speaks of his head being anointed whilst the other his feet!(I honestly don't think so) b) Who exactly was the 'Simon' the gospels spoke about? was Jesus in the house of the leper called Simon or the Pharasee also called simon c) was Simon in (b) the same - Judas' father. I then came across this website. Please read http://www.goodnewsaboutgod.com/studies/spiritual/home_study/judas_father.htm
I am still a litle unsure but one this is certain...Jesus is still the Christ (Anoited one).
We all can see the same event but from different angles and view points of view depending on the time it was perceived, that doesn't mean the event didn't occur; hence why we have the four gospels. There will always be various versions of an event. They are neither are fully complete nor incomplete in the viewers eye...however they all tell a similar story. Why do humans always over complicate things. God is not a God of confusion but of peace (1 Corr 14:33)and nothing his hid but to be revealed (Mark 4:22). Unlike God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent man cannot be everywhere, in everything at the same time.
Stay bless all
The Messenger
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