Matthew 26:8-13 8And when the disciples saw it, they became angry, saying, “Why this waste? 9For this could have been sold for a high price and given to the poor.” 10But knowing this, Jesus said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a beautiful act to me. 11For you always have the poor with you, but me you will not always have. 12For in pouring this ointment on my body, she has prepared me to be buried. 13Truly, 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.”
The story makes a drastic change as it shifts to the disciples who witnessed this event. Three significant ideas emerge from these verses. First is the bad attitude of the disciples, who become angry against what they perceived to be a waste of good money. They had the same attitude towards James and John in 20:24. They had their pre-conceived ideas and opinions about matters, and they let these come out again in this situation. When people work hard for their money or have very little of it, they may be bothered when they see other people waste their money on things they do not need. John’s Gospel states that Judas Iscariot was at the forefront of this complaint, but obviously he was not the only one who was bothered by this. Their logic is not necessarily incorrect. A flask of expensive alabaster was worth a lot of money, three hundred denarii, which was about a whole year’s worth of wages (John 12:5).
Second, as always, Jesus knew what the disciples were thinking and used this as a teaching opportunity for them. They must have been talking among themselves, not aware that Jesus knew their thoughts. He rebukes them with a simple question similar to what we might use towards our children to get them to think about what they just said. People speak without much thought, but what they impulsively say can be a clue to the condition of their heart. In this case, the disciples misunderstood the significance of what was happening. They may have had a good motive to use the money to feed the poor, but they did not see the sacrifice of love Mary gave to Jesus. She had done a beautiful thing by anointing Jesus. She was one of the few people to lay herself before Jesus in consecration in the days before his death.
Third, Jesus used this as an opportunity to remind the disciples of what he had said many times, that he was in Jerusalem for one reason–the cross. He came to die. His time with them was limited, and so what Mary did was in acknowledgement of those special moments of physical presence. They could raise money for the poor at any other point of time, but that was a special moment of commitment that could never be repeated. Mary may not have understood the part about this being an anointing for Jesus’ death, but Jesus used it as a reminder to the disciples of what was about to happen. They would all flee at his crucifixion and burial, but Mary had already prepared him in a special way. Because of that act of love and sacrifice, her story has been told throughout the world ever since.
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