Extravagant Love and Nothing Wasted for God

Matthew places Jesus at the house of Simon the leper, and Simon’s name itself points to the healing mercy of Christ. Simon has not erased the story of his suffering. His very title becomes a reminder that broken people can be reforged, that Jesus takes what evil has damaged and brings light out of it. John places Mary at the same table, a woman whose brother had recently been dead as a doornail and whom Jesus raised to life. Mary’s love for Jesus grows out of what she has seen him do.

Mary pours out a pound of pure nard, a one-time gift worth something like $50,000. The ointment is not casual perfume. It is an heirloom kind of object, the thing a family might save, display, and pass down for decades. Mary breaks it open and uses all of it on Jesus. The house fills with the fragrance.

Judas sees waste. The disciples initially join the complaint. The concern sounds reasonable because money can do real good for the poor, and Christians should think carefully about using resources well. Scripture itself calls for both structured care for the poor and help in the cracks, in the emergencies that systems cannot reach. But John pulls back the curtain on Judas’s heart. Judas does not care for the poor. Judas is a thief, already taking from the money bag and looking for a Messiah whose coattails might carry him into wealth, glory, and power.

Greed promises that there is some number, some bigger barn, some pile of treasure that will finally fill the hole. Yet greed never reveals the number because the number is always bigger than whatever is already possessed. Judas’s words are not entirely wrong on the surface, but his heart has been rotted by self-serving greed. Mary’s act may look impractical, but it comes from love and devotion.

Jesus calls Mary’s sacrifice “a beautiful thing.” Christ refuses to treat wealth as something meant only to be hoarded or optimized. Mary’s gift is for his burial, and her costly, one-time offering becomes a smaller picture of the greater gift about to come. Jesus will give his life at immeasurable cost so that sinners may receive life.

Jesus promises that Mary’s act will be remembered wherever the gospel is proclaimed. Nothing done for God out of love for him truly goes to waste, even when others call it foolish, ineffective, or wasteful. Faithfulness is cathedral work, not end-table work. Christ calls his people to reject casual greed, receive helpful criticism humbly, endure false condemnation faithfully, and trust that the Lord remembers what others overlook.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Love sees what greed cannot see. Judas can name a practical use for the perfume, but he cannot see the beauty of Mary’s devotion. Greed often borrows the language of wisdom, efficiency, and concern for others while quietly serving itself. Love gives Christ his true worth, even when the gift looks foolish to those counting only visible results. [28:56]
• 2. Jesus reforges broken people. Simon’s old name remains attached to him, not as proof that suffering won, but as testimony that Christ healed him. Mary’s presence carries the same witness because Jesus brought Lazarus back from death. Christ does not need his people to pretend their wounds never happened; he can make the scars speak of his mercy. [09:41]
• 3. Greed always moves the finish line. Judas looks for gain in Jesus’ ministry, but no amount of gain could ever satisfy that kind of heart. Wealth is not automatically evil, yet the desire to hoard turns possessions into false saviors. The bigger-barn instinct promises security while leaving the soul hungry for more. [24:45]
• 4. Nothing done for God is wasted. Jesus remembers Mary’s costly act when others criticize it as wasteful. Faithful labor, love, generosity, and service may receive no immediate reward and may even bring condemnation. God’s remembrance gives endurance when the visible outcome feels painfully small.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [02:04] - Common Virtue and True Virtue
• [04:30] - Mary, Judas, and the Costly Ointment
• [06:31] - Simon the Leper and Christ’s Healing
• [10:25] - Mary’s Love for Jesus
• [11:38] - An Extravagant One-Time Gift
• [14:33] - Caring Wisely for the Poor
• [18:16] - What Was Hidden Behind Judas’s Words
• [20:58] - Greed Disguised as Concern
• [24:45] - Following Jesus for Jesus
• [26:46] - Why Mary’s Gift Was Beautiful
• [29:53] - A Picture of Christ’s Sacrifice
• [31:28] - Nothing Done for God Is Forgotten
• [33:42] - Cathedral Work and Lifelong Faithfulness

Bible Reading

Matthew 26:6-13
“Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 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. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, 'Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.' But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, 'Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 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.” [05:27]

John 12:1-8
“Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 'Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?' He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, 'Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” [05:51]

1 Samuel 16:7
“But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” [29:22]

Observation questions

1. What details in Matthew 26 and John 12 show that Mary’s anointing of Jesus was far more costly than an ordinary act of hospitality? [11:38]
2. What do Simon’s title, “the leper,” and the fact that he is hosting a dinner suggest about his past and about Jesus’ mercy toward him? [08:03]
3. How do the Gospel accounts describe the different reactions of Mary, the disciples, Judas, Martha, and Lazarus at this meal?
4. What does John reveal about Judas’s role with the money bag and the real reason behind his objection to Mary’s gift? [19:24]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does Jesus call Mary’s costly act “a beautiful thing” when others at the table see it as wasteful? What does this reveal about what Jesus values? [27:16]
2. Judas’s words about giving to the poor sound reasonable at first. How does John’s description of Judas show the difference between wise concern for others and self-serving concern disguised as virtue? [21:03]
3. How does Mary’s anointing point ahead to Jesus’ burial and his sacrificial death for sinners? [29:53]
4. First Samuel 16:7 teaches that the Lord looks at the heart. How does that truth help explain why Mary’s action and Judas’s complaint must not be judged only by their outward appearance? [29:05]

Application questions

1. Is there an area of life where concern for “wisdom,” “efficiency,” or “good stewardship” could be hiding a desire to protect comfort, reputation, control, or money? What might honest repentance look like there? [24:45]
2. Mary gave Jesus something precious because she loved him. What resources, abilities, time, or opportunities feel especially costly to place at Christ’s feet right now?
3. Jesus does not require his people to erase the story of their suffering. How might a past wound, failure, loss, or scar become part of a testimony to Christ’s healing mercy rather than a source of shame? [08:31]
4. Caring for the poor includes both thoughtful long-term help and responding to urgent needs. What are practical ways this group can grow in both kinds of care without treating generosity as an afterthought? [16:57]
5. Where is the “bigger barn” instinct most tempting—finances, possessions, career, security, recognition, or something else? How can contentment in Christ challenge that instinct this week? [24:45]
6. Has there been a time when a faithful act of love, service, generosity, or obedience was criticized, ignored, or seemed fruitless? How does Jesus’ promise to remember Mary’s act encourage perseverance in that kind of situation? [31:33]