Day 26

Today’s Reading: Matthew 26

Every time I get a new Bible, I write the same thing in each one before I start reading. I put it right on the flyleaf. It is a five-hundred-year-old poem a prison convict wrote: “There was a man, and they called him mad; the more he gave, the more he had.” That prison convict was John Bunyan.

The more he gave, the more he had.

It doesn’t make sense. It seems like a contradiction.

The English language does this. We have words and phrases in English that seem to make no sense and at times, appear contradictory. Consider a few:

• A ship carries cargo, and a car carries shipments.

Then some words are way off in their descriptions of an item. We see an example of this in today’s reading. Jesus and His disciples saw the same event at the same time . . . but their definitions of it were so far apart that it feels contradictory. Let’s look at the story.

Jesus now proceeded to Bethany, to the home of Simon the leper. While he was eating, a woman came in with a bottle of very expensive perfume and poured it over his head. The disciples were indignant. “What a waste of good money,” they said. “Why, she could have sold it for a fortune and given it to the poor.” Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why are you criticizing her? For she has done a good thing to me. You will always have the poor among you, but you won’t always have me. She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. And she will always be remembered for this deed. The story of what she has done will be told throughout the whole world, wherever the Good News is preached.” (Matthew 26:6-13, TLB) 

Here is the contradiction:

• The disciples’ interpretation of this woman’s act: “What a waste” (verse 8).

These perspectives were based on this woman’s extravagant gift. Listen to the words of comparison. Two views of the same deed: waste and good. These are really far apart. How could someone who had been with Jesus for three years be that far off on something like this? What’s worse is that I can see myself in those disciples. How can I be with Jesus for almost four decades and still misinterpret and misdefine so badly?

This woman took Jesus seriously and became the center of attention just days before the crucifixion. What did Jesus see in this act that the disciples did not? What made it beautiful and significant?

It had the extravagance of God on it.

It was extravagant—it spared no expense; it showed a lack of restraint in using resources; it was elaborate. This woman’s act looked a lot like what God does.

Think about creation. When God created He was extravagant. He was not stingy. He could have created one star but decided that was not enough for the space, so He loaded the heavens with hundreds of billions of them.

He created everything with extravagance. He spoke and ten million insects were created, ten million species. Not one hundred, not one thousand. There are 2,500 variations of ants (most in my home) and three hundred thousand species of beetles. Extravagance.

He created more than ten thousand species of birds. Five billion birds live in the United States alone! Then He got extravagant with their personalities. Some can fly up to five hundred miles nonstop. Mallard ducks fly 60 mph; eagles, 100 mph; falcons, 180 mph. Some He created to navigate by the stars.

He created more than 28,000 species of fish.

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