Extravagant Worship – Matthew 26:1-13

I love the picture of king David dancing before the Lord as he led the procession of the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:16). It was extravagant worship. Darlene Zschech, pastor of Hope Unlimited Church, has noted: “Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines the word extravagant as “2a: exceeding the limits of reason b: lacking in moderation, balance and restraint, c: extremely or excessively elaborate 3a: spending much more than necessary b: profuse, lavish.” The Holy Spirit is calling us to excessive worship. We’re to be overgenerous in our praises to God. Extravagant worship means to be elaborate in our offering of admiration to Him; our worship is to be over and above reasonable limits previously established.”

Jesus does not ask for it, but one of his disciples gives him such extravagant worship, and she has been memorialized forever because of it.

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:1-13 ESV)

Though Jesus has been predicting his death (and resurrection, though he doesn’t mention that here), his disciples seem unable to grasp it.  We learn that the high priest himself is in on the plot with the other priests and elders, looking for a way to nab Jesus without the crowds turning on them.  It is the feast of Passover and pilgrims from all over have come to Jerusalem.  Jesus is staying in Bethany at the house of Simon the Leper, who though he is known as such is no doubt a former leper having been healed by Jesus.

One disciple, Mary (John 12:3), sister of Martha and Lazarus, has grasped the reality of Jesus’ coming death and has purchased an expensive ointment with which she begins to anoint him.  Her extravagant act is interpreted by the disciples as wasteful but by Jesus as beautiful.  Does our love for Jesus lead to extravagant acts of worship?  Mary’s act stands as a reminder to us that following Jesus is not simply a matter of obeying him but of loving him.  To really obey the law we must love the Lord with all our hearts, souls and minds.