The concluding parable of Matthew 25 pictures the Son of Man in great power, judging the nations. When we turn to chapter 26, Jesus is still teaching His disciples.
Can you imagine having a conversation about His power and authority, and then hearing these words?
When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified” (Matthew 26.1-2).
How does God exercise His authority? He doesn’t exert it through power, might, an army, money, or other trappings that we generally associate with powerful people. The way He exercises His authority is through self-giving love.
A Dramatic Contrast
Jesus operated his ministry through self-giving love. The religious authorities schemed to maintain their power and privilege.
Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the courtyard of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.
But they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people” (Matthew 26.3-5).
If we can learn anything from these religious authorities, it is how not to be like them. The best thing we can do is to study their lives and determine that we will be like Jesus and not like them.
The next scene in Matthew’s drama finds the disciples near Jerusalem.
Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table (Matthew 26.6-7).
While the religious authorities attempt to find a way to kill Jesus without causing trouble with the crowd, a woman pours an ointment on his head, worth the equivalent of an entire year’s income for a day laborer.
She may have understood Jesus’s words about his imminent crucifixion and decided to give him an anointing for burial ahead of the event. Another way to understand her actions is to see her anointing Jesus recognizing him as the Messiah.
No matter what compelled her behavior, she did something that the disciples didn’t understand.
But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.”
But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me.
For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial.
Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her” (Matthew 26.8-13).
The disciples surely remembered Jesus’s command to leave everything and to follow Him. They may have wondered why Jesus allowed this extravagant behavior and if it wasn’t some sort of contradiction.
Passover season was a time when gifts were traditionally given to the poor. One of the ways to honor God was by serving the poor, and it must have appeared to them that to give to the poor was preferable to a momentary good deed to Jesus.
It was important for people in the first century to have a good burial. There was a good chance that someone who was crucified would not get one.
The woman acted out of love for Jesus, understanding that he would be crucified. With crucifixion on her mind, she gave him the greatest offering she could.
The Women
Matthew 26:14-16 highlights the betrayal of Judas to the chief priests. Judas was not the only one to turn his back on Jesus during this period of time. Peter denied him, and all of the disciples, with the exception of John, ran.
What is interesting is that the women stayed. This unnamed woman was probably one of those who stayed with Jesus through His trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.
I often write about one remarkable aspect of the Bible: how the Bible treats its heroes is unique in ancient literature.
Heroes are usually larger than life. However, in this instance, the heroes fail one after another, and the women, some of them unnamed, are the ones who are faithful to the Lord.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 