In life we need to be pursuing value with our resources. Unfortunately, we frequently squander the opportunity to pursue what we value or give ourselves duplicitous rationale for the things we do. Look at the incident in the Bible passage below and recognize two things: 1. How value needs to be pursued as exemplified by Mary; 2. How we try to give excuses for not using the opportunities presented to us as exemplified by Judas.
Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.
John 12:3-7 ESV
When we pursue something we value, we must do so with reckless abandon. Mary is the perfect example of this. She saw who she valued and then took a really expensive jar of perfume (a year’s worth of salary, the Bible says) and poured onto Jesus’ feet (the dirtiest part of one’s body, if you are walking around in dust wearing nothing but sandals).
How quickly do you think it ran out once she started pouring? Some of us need to think about how we pursue the things that we say we love. Whether it’s our time or money or talents, we very rarely pour out ourselves into what we love. It’s a shame too, because we know we would be more joyful for it, if we did.
On the flip side of this, we find Judas. His critique of Mary: the resources could have gone somewhere else…
This is always the case when we pursue something really valuable to us. Those resources, whatever they are, they can go toward something else. The point is not that it can be used for something else, I’m sure a lot of things can. The point is that when you weigh the opportunity cost for each, we should always recklessly pursue what we say we value.
If that is the case, I want to challenge all of us today: if we say we value Jesus, how are we pursuing him? Is it the meager spare change we have in pockets that we drop into a bucket when we have spare change? Is it by giving our time to serve him boldly when there seems to be little to nothing gained? Perhaps it’s not Jesus, it’s your family. Do you value your family by giving them the scraps of your time? Sure you’ve made a living for your family, to do what is best, but isn’t what is best your reckless investment into your family?
Jesus is who Mary valued. She wanted to pursue him because she had a life altering encounter with him. She put that above all else. Pursue what you value like Mary did. Do it with passion and with recklessness. Know that the thing you value should be worth your sacrifice.
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