Why This Waste?

But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor" (Matthew 26:8-9).

The word ‘waste’ means ‘a dead loss’. Is anything we do for the Lord Jesus Christ a ‘waste’, a ‘dead loss’? What a shocking statement to make to a woman whose sole intent was to honor the Lord with a gift given in preparation for His death and burial. What a shocking statement to make to the Lord who received this gift graciously from one whose heart sought only to honor Him. What a shocking statement to make by these men who had been called by Jesus to be His disciples and to serve in His Kingdom. Why was this fragrant oil wasted? (Mark 14:4).

It didn’t matter their justification for the statement, For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor. The true attitude of the disciples, led by Judas Iscariot (John 12:2) was revealed. All along the disciples had refused to accept the truth spoken of Jesus in Scripture:

(Gen 3:15) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. (Isa 53:1-5) Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

The disciples wanted a king to set Israel free from Rome. The disciples, and all Israel, needed a Lord and Savior that would set them free from Satan and sin and the judgment of God. They did not see Jesus for who He really was. Even though Simon Peter declared, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16), he didn’t understand the fullness of the words he spoke, none of the disciples did. One wonders if many in the Christian church today understand the fullness of the words, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Mary gave the Lord Jesus her heart, her life, her all demonstrated in anointing Him with a precious, costly oil. Why this waste? was the shocking yet true sentiment of the disciples. Is even the smallest things we do for the Lord Jesus Christ a waste, a dead loss?

Pastor