April 8, 2010
LEFTOVER PERFUME
Matthew 26:1-16
Adam Hammack
Central Truth
Jesus deserves our best!
Key Verse | Matthew 26:7
"[A] woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table." (Matthew 26:7)
Matthew 26:1-16
The Plot to Kill Jesus
1 When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 1 26:6 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
Judas to Betray Jesus
14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
Dive Deeper | Matthew 26:1-16
As I am writing this, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Now, If there's one thing I don't like about Thanksgiving, it's all the leftover turkey. I can handle one day of leftovers, but then I'm ready for something else. I sure don't want to spend the next week eating it.
The thing I love about the woman in this verse (26:7) is that she anointed Jesus with her most expensive perfume. She didn't anoint him using her leftover perfume or with that extra bottle that had been sitting around since the previous year. No, she chose the very best of what she had and used it. The woman from Bethany put aside her selfish ambitions and acted humbly, as described in Philippians 2:3.
Contrast that with Judas' actions in verses 14-16. Judas' selfish motives are exemplified by his willingness to betray Jesus to gain a few pieces of silver. This prompts me to ask—what selfish ambitions are holding me back from growing in my relationship with the Lord?
For me, these verses are great reminders that Jesus deserves my best, especially as it relates to my time. I have a tendency to be selfish with my time. It's hard to be both selfish and sacrificial with my time. It's my goal to spend time reading each morning before I go to work, but it's also my goal to sleep in whenever possible. So you can see my problem. On the mornings I read, I think of the woman from Bethany offering her perfume to Jesus and how my choice to spend time reading His Word is a small way to offer Jesus the best part of my day.
Discussion Questions
1. Are there areas of your life in which you tend to offer Jesus your leftovers (time, resources, etc.)?
2. Why is it difficult to offer/sacrifice the best of parts of your life?
3. Would your response have been similar to the disciples' response (26:8-9) when they saw the woman from Bethany anointing Jesus? How could their response have been different?
FAMILY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why did the disciples get mad when she poured the perfume on Jesus?
2. In verse 7 the woman showed that Jesus was more important than her expensive perfume. What are some things that you sometimes treat as more important than Jesus?