What is the significance of Jesus being anointed (Matthew 26:6-13)?

She might indeed have had many an opportunity to sell the ointment for the benefit of the poor, or ere this to pour it upon Christ. But, says the Lord, "She (has) kept this" for this supreme moment. The Lord lets every one know that the ointment was kept for the day of His preparation for burial. It was an expression of love for Christ which becomes a witness to the fact that the One Who had just raised a man from the dead was Himself going into death. The Lord, indeed, is not unmindful of the poor, for, He says, the poor are always with us: but, with touching tenderness, He adds, "Me ye have not always". He is conscious of His approaching departure, and the spiritual instincts of Mary tell her that the shadow of death is closing round her Lord. Lazarus was a witness to the resurrection power of Christ, but Mary's act witnessed that the One Who had the power of resurrection life was going into death. As so often, devoted love gives divine intelligence. Thus she seemed to be the only one that entered into the mind of the Lord, and realised that death was before Him.

If, however, Man's act calls forth the indignation of men, it draws out the appreciation of Christ. The Lord delights to say, "She has wrought a good work on Me." In Luke 10, we read that Mary chose "that good part". Here, we learn, that she does "a good work." The good part is to sit at His feet and hear His word, the good work is work which has Christ for its motive. There may be much activity in service, but if Christ is not the motive it will have little value in the day to come. Moreover, the Lord not only commends Man's work on account of its pure motive, but also because she had done "what she could." In service for Christ it is not possible to overlook an opportunity for some comparatively small and obscure act of service, and aim rather at a great public work which, after all, may have the false motive of exalting self. Does not this fine scene encourage us to do what we can, however small the service, with the pure motive of exalting Christ?

Very blessedly, the Lord gives us the true spiritual significance of her act. She had come aforehand to anoint His body to the burying. Others, indeed, will come when it is too late with their sweet spices to express their true, but unintelligent appreciation of Christ. Mary, with greater spiritual intelligence expresses her love before the burial. So great is the value that the Lord sets upon Mary's act that He says, "Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." Her act of love is to be used for all time as a beautiful example of the true and proper result of the gospel. Not only does the gospel bring to us the knowledge of salvation and the forgiveness of sins, but it wins the heart to Christ, so that He becomes the supreme object of life. We know that the Lord's Supper which has been celebrated throughout the ages is a continual memorial of the perfect Saviour and His infinite love to His people; but the one supper that took place at Bethany has become the lasting memorial of a devoted saint and her love to Christ.

In verse 6 we have the veil removed from the heart of Judas, that we might see the inner workings of his evil spirit; in the next verse the Lord answers the question of Judas as given in verse 5: "Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always." The Lord thus tenderly shielded Mary from reproach, and proclaimed to all who had ears to hear, that she, however taught, had divined the secret of His death, and that in communion with His own mind about it, she had identified herself with it. It was therefore a supreme moment to her, and she seized the opportunity, for it would never recur, to anoint that holy body for His burying. Whether she understood all this, we know not, but the Lord attributed this significance to her act; she would not have the Lord always, after this manner, and she thus eagerly poured out this tribute of her deep affection at His feet, while He sat at the table six days before the Passover. The Lord added another thing, as recorded by Matthew and Mark: "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." We learn from this how grateful to the heart of the Lord this act of Mary's had been, and what an unspeakable recompense He attached to it. As long as the gospels exist, Mary's act will be celebrated and also enshrined in the hearts of God's people; and in this sense also the house will be for ever filled with the odour of the ointment.

The woman who anointed Him for His burial gives us an expression of faith in the same mystery. She believed that He would die and be buried, but that He would pass through death and the grave as a Conqueror, and by that very process be introduced to His anointing or His glories. She understood the mystery of victorious death, or of resurrection from the dead, on which great fact the gospel hangs. Therefore it is that the Lord says of her, that wheresoever the gospel should be preached, her deed, her faith, should be had in remembrance. He made it a pattern faith, as Abraham's had been.

THIS CHAPTER BRINGS US back to the history of the last few days of the Lord's life on earth. The opening verses give us a peep into the palace of the high priest, and we find it to be full of craft and counsels of murder. In verses 6-13, we turn from this most atrocious wickedness in high places to behold an action of love and devotion in a humble home, where some of the godly remnant dwelt. From John 12 we gather that the woman was Mary of Bethany. She evidently anointed both His head and His feet, but Matthew, emphasizing His kingly character, mentions that His head was anointed, as befits a king: John emphasizing His Deity, tells us that His feet were anointed, though a great servant like John the Baptist was not worthy to unbind His sandals.

The disciples were entirely out of sympathy with this act of devotion, regarding it as mere waste. Their complaint was instigated by Judas Iscariot, as John's Gospel shows us, yet it revealed them as thinking first of money and then of the poor, while ignorant and mystified as to His approaching death. The woman thought neither of money nor of the poor. Christ filled her vision, and He knew how to interpret her action. Very probably she acted more from instinct than from intelligence; but she was conscious that death now threatened the Object of her affection and worship, and the Lord accepted what she did as for His burial. Not only did He approve but He ordained that her devoted act should be held in continual remembrance wherever the gospel is preached. And so it has been.

And let us mark how the heart that is entirely devoted to Jesus gets into the right place, and does the right thing. (Matt. 26:6-7.) There may not have been intelligence in this woman, of what she was going to do, but her feeling seems to have been that she was about to lose Jesus, and that she must spend all she had most precious upon Him there. There is an instinct of affection, that finds its expression when wanted. "Me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial." Jesus interprets it. She broke the alabaster box. It was really of no use, but sanctified affection is of use. Disciples might say, to what purpose is this waste? and talk about giving the money to the poor; but whatever is spent on Jesus, God delights in. And Jesus accepts the affection, and is conscious that He should be the object. "Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me," etc. There is nothing so acceptable to God in the saint as knowing the person of Jesus, and appreciating Him in love. If in service we anticipated the mind of the Lord, how we might help one another! and how graciously He reckons! For ignorant as the woman was, the Lord speaks as if she had known about His death and burial, as He did Himself. And He rewards accordingly.

(2) Next we have, in the strongest and sharpest contrast the love that pours out its precious ointment upon the Lord, and the murmuring of the disciples, prompted, as we are elsewhere told, by one who could sell the Lord Himself for the price of a slave. The last finds its occasion; also, in the first, love rousing and developing its awful opposite in the soul of this unhappy man, whom the defeat of his earthly ambitions and carnal hopes has already set in antagonism. He had begun to compensate himself, as best he could, with the contents of the common bag which carried all the means of subsistence of the little company. That pitiful compensation was coming to an end. Clearer sighted in his unbelief than his companions in their faith, he could understand the intimations, constantly now coming, of his Master's death. The enmity of the leaders of the people was too plain, to need much other prophecy of what was to be. It might not come to that: at the end we find him possessed with the hope that in fact it would not. Still he needed to make his escape from this ruined cause, and carry with him also what he could secure. The price of this ointment might well be coveted by one in such a position; and he breaks out openly with his complaint: "To what purpose is this waste?"

She, too, who has come there with her ointment, has realized as those around Him have not yet, the death that is now drawn so near Him. But the effect is only, if possible, to make Him more absorbingly the object for her heart, and whatever is precious for her goes into death with Him. Her use of the ointment testifies of this, as well as of the fragrance of the death itself, which will abide with us for eternity, and in which we too abide, and shall abide ― in the sweet savor of this wonderful obedience.

Against the day of His burying she had kept that ointment. She knew Him as appointed to death, but she knew Him as appointed to resurrection also. And she comes in the faith of "the sufferings of Christ and the glories that were to follow," to make Him glad out of her ivory palace. (Matt. 26)

The last we read of Mary is in John 12, and it is fitting that the record of her life should close there. The pound “of spikenard very costly” would have distinguished her in the midst of her acquaintances, but she lavished it upon Him, well knowing that He was going into death. The world had nothing to give Him but a shameful cross and a grave, and she only amongst all His loved ones seemed to realise this, and she said by her action, “The best I have shall go into His grave, for He is worthy.” The Lord interpreted that action, and said, “Let her alone; against the day of my burying hath she kept this,” and “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” (Matt. 26:13).

If it has, it will stand approved, and be rewarded; if not, it will be rejected and burnt up. It does not matter in the least what men's thoughts may be about any particular piece of work. They may laud a person to the skies, for something he is doing; they may parade his name in the public journals of the day; they may make him the subject of discourse in their drawing room circle; he may have a great name as a preacher, a teacher, a writer, a moral reformer; but, if he cannot connect his work with the name of Jesus - if it is not done to Him and to His glory - if it is not the fruit of the constraining love of Christ, it will all be blown away like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and sunk into eternal oblivion. On the contrary, a man may pursue a quiet, humble, lowly path of service, unknown and unnoticed. His name may never be heard, his work may never be thought of; but what has been done, has been done in simple love to Christ. He has wrought, in obscurity, with his eye on his Master. The smile of his Lord has been quite enough for him. He has never thought, for one moment, of seeking man's approval; he has never sought to catch his smile or shun his frown; he has pursued the even tenor of his way, simply looking to Christ, and acting for Him. His work will stand. It will be remembered and rewarded, though he did not do it for remembrance or reward, but from simple love to Jesus. It is work of the right stamp - genuine coin which will abide the fire of the day of the Lord. It is an unspeakable mercy to be delivered from the time-serving, men-pleasing spirit of the present day; and to be enabled to walk, ever and only before the Lord - to have "all our works begun, continued, and ended in Him." Let us look, for a few moments, at the lovely and most touching illustration of this, presented to us in "the house of Simon the leper, there came unto Him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head, as He sat at meat." Now, if we inquire as to this woman's object, as she bent her steps to Simon's house, what was it? Was it to display the exquisite perfume of her ointment, or the material and form of her alabaster box? Was it to obtain the praise of men for her act? Was it to get a name for extraordinary devotedness to Christ, in the midst of a little knot of personal friends of the Savior? No, reader, it was none of these things. How do we know? Because, the Most High God, the Creator of all things, who knows the deepest secrets of all hearts, and the true motive spring of every action - He was there in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. His holy and all-penetrating eye went right down into the very depths of this woman's soul. He knew, not only what she had done, but, how and why she had done it; and He declared, "She hath wrought a good work upon me." In a word, then, Christ Himself was the immediate object of this woman's soul; and it was this which gave value to her act, and sent the odor of her ointment straight up to the throne of God. He not only vindicated her at the moment, but handed it down into the future. This was quite enough for the heart of this woman. Having the approval of her Lord, she could well afford to bear the "indignation" even of "the disciples," and to hear her act pronounced "waste." It was sufficient for her that His heart had been refreshed. All the rest might go for what it was worth. She had never thought of securing man's praise, or of avoiding his scorn. Her one undivided object, from first to last, was Christ. From the moment she laid her hand upon that alabaster box, until she broke it, and poured its contents upon His sacred Person, it was of Himself alone she thought. She had a kind of intuitive perception of what would be suitable and grateful to her Lord, in the solemn circumstances in which He was placed at the moment, and, with exquisite tact, she did that thing. She had never thought of what the ointment might fetch; or, if she had, she felt that He was worth ten thousand times as much. As to "the poor," they had their place, no doubt, and their claims also; but she felt that Jesus was more to her than all the poor in the world. In short, the woman's heart was filled with Christ, and it was this that gave character to her action. Others might pronounce it "waste;" but we may rest assured that nothing is wasted which is spent for Christ. So the woman judged: and she was right. To put honor upon Him, at the very moment when earth and hell were rising up against Him, was the very highest act of service that man or angel could perform. He was going to be offered up. The shadows were lengthening, the gloom was deepening, the darkness thickening. The cross-- with all its horrors - was at hand; and this woman anticipated it all, and came, beforehand, to anoint the body of her adorable Lord. And mark the result.

See how immediately the blessed Lord enters upon her defense, and shields her from the indignation and scorn of those who ought to have known better. "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. Verily, I say unto you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." See that you keep your eye directly upon the Master, in all you do. Make Jesus the immediate object of every little act of service, no matter what. Seek to do your every work so He may be able to say, "It is a good work upon me." Do not be occupied with the thoughts of men as to your path or as to your work. Do not mind their indignation or their misunderstanding, but pour your alabaster box of ointment upon the person of your Lord. See that your every act of service is the fruit of your heart's appreciation of Him; and be assured He will appreciate your work and vindicate you before assembled myriads. Thus it was with the woman of whom we have been reading. She took her alabaster box, and made her way to the house of Simon the leper, with one goal in her heart, namely, Jesus and what was before Him. She was absorbed in Him. She thought of none beside, but poured her precious ointment on His head. And note the blessed issue. Her act has come down to us, in the gospel record, coupled with His blessed Name. No one can read the gospel without reading also the memorial of her personal devotedness. Empires have risen, flourished, and passed away into the region of silence and oblivion. Monuments have been erected to commemorate human genius, greatness, - and these monuments have crumbled into dust; but the act of this woman still lives, and shall live forever. May we have grace to imitate her.