You can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she has just done is going to be remembered and admired. Matthew 26:13 (The Message)
Towards the end of his ministry, Jesus was visiting Simon the leper in Bethany. While they were having dinner, a woman walked into the house, found Jesus at the table, and poured a bottle of expensive oil on his head. Needless to say, there was a bit of an uproar over this action.
It’s interesting that the comments mentioned in Matthew involve the irritation of the disciples that the money spent on the oil wasn’t spent as they thought it should be. Jesus tries to correct their attitude and this scripture is part of his rebuke.
I’ve never heard this scripture referred to in discussions on charity, but it seems to me that this is a good example of the best kind of charity. Charity is defined as doing something good for those who don’t have our resources. It’s easy to get hooked into a “better than you” attitude of “I know what you need and, because I’m feeling charitable, I’ll provide it to you – free!” The problem is that we don’t always know what other people need.
For example, missionary trips are organized to send volunteers into other countries to build churches. Unfortunately, local contractors aren’t invited to participate in these projects, which deprives them of needed income. The volunteers bring their own food, which doesn’t help the economy of the area receiving the charity. Residents of the area aren’t involved in the project, so they don’t learn how to maintain the buildings.
Some of the organizations created to help the needy in our own country develop rules to regulate the type and frequency of the provision of help so that some who need the help end up receiving what they are given rather than choosing for themselves.
The disciples were correct in saying that the money used to purchase the expensive oil could have bought a lot of carrots or milk or canned beans for those who could have used them. However, charity is paying attention to what’s going on at the moment. The woman who had gone to all the trouble of finding a fancy bottle and filling it with costly oil was prompted to meet a need that the others hadn’t recognized yet.
If we’re going to be truly charitable towards others, we need to listen to what God is calling us to do. The woman with the oil followed the path laid before her by God. That’s why Jesus honored her by predicting that she would be mentioned whenever his gospel is preached. That’s possibly why Jesus didn’t honor the disciples with the same prediction. They were still trying to “follow the rules” instead of listening to God’s direction. It might not be a bad idea to follow the example of the woman with the oil!
Becky Gillette has been a teacher, preacher, pension administrator and newspaper reporter. Taking an innovative approach to reading the Bible, she started in Revelation and is working her way to Genesis, finding at least one scripture from each chapter upon which to meditate. This column is based on those meditations, pointing out the relationship between these scriptures and the real world. One may reach her at jessiescorner08@gmail.com.
