This is a story of someone unafraid of demonstrating her love lavishly and publicly. It comes on the heels of strenuous questioning from both the left (Saducees) and the right (Pharisees). That section wraps with a positive discussion of the two greatest commandments – love God and love others, the vertical and the horizontal.
That’s the context of this story. It’s something, that, if it happened today, we would likely respond in similar ways. “That’s too much,” “that’s scandalous,” “that’s a lot of money.”
Both the teachers of the law and the disciples find problems with this, and in some ways it’s hard to blame them. They are, in some ways, trying to love horizontally. We certainly judge how other people spend their time and money, and we often could use our resources more wisely. But what all this misses is that Jesus is a person, and He does not call us into an efficient transaction that maximizes resource allocation – He calls us to a relationship with Him.
The whole chapter previous is about people challenging Jesus around rationality and doctrine. This woman steps into this and unashamedly demonstrates a single-minded purpose to lavish her love for Jesus, publicly and without calculation. The disciples are crunching the numbers, but she is overwhelmed with a desire to actively and abundantly love.
It ties back to the widow who gave all she had at the temple – born women gave all they had, and Jesus lifts up both women as exemplars of what we all should be (both men and women).
What does this look like for us? How do we move from a transactionally-based relationship to a love-based relationship? One way is worship, praising Jesus whether or not you are feeling it at any one moment. While our own personal styles will vary, we should worship in a way that takes its cue from this woman, unashamed and unworried about how others will see us.
Likewise in our private personal prayer and spiritual discipline, we can still be restrained, and the example of this woman calls us to a more open and lavish love for Christ in those moments as well.
And our love here should spring from the same well as this woman’s did – gratitude for all Jesus has done for us.
–Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, March 10, 2024