Matthew 26:1-13
About the Text
(1) What is the Passover;? It is the Jewish feast celebrating God's deliverance of His people from the enslavement of the Egyptians. Just prior to this freedom, God sent a plague to kill all the first-born sons in Egypt. God's wrath, however, would pass by any Israelite household who sprinkled lamb's blood on the door of their homes. In this way they were "passed-over." This happened about 1,800 years before the time of Christ, and it is still celebrated by Jews today. See Exodus chap. 11 & 12. It is no accident that Christ's death happened on the day of Passover. For Christians, Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. He was defect-free, i.e. sinless. Through His death, His blood was sprinkled upon the wood of the cross. This act makes God's wrath "pass-over" us who believe. We are thus kept safe from the punishment of sin by the blood of our "Passover Lamb" - Jesus Christ - who takes away the sin of those who believe. See Hebrews 10:1-18, John 1:29.
(3) Who is Caiaphas? He was the supreme priest of Judiasm in 18-36 A.D. About two years ago, archeologists believed to have discovered his family tomb. They found a tomb of a wealthy family, with ornate caskets (called "ossuaries") with the name "Joseph Caiaphas" inscribed on it. His full name is consistent with the records of Flavius Josephus, an ancient Roman-Jewish historian at the time of the early church.
(7) What is alabaster? It was a type of lime-marble, used by the wealthy for decoration, sculpting, and other artwork. See sample being passed around in the service. Mark 14:3 says that she "broke the jar," meaning that she broke the seal that preserved the precious perfume that it contained.
(8) Why were the disciples "indignant"? John 12:5 says that it was Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, who first made the remark about the wastefulness of the woman's act. At his suggestion, the disciples followed, because they did not fully understand the full significance of the woman's act. She understood the necessity and importance of Christ's death on the cross for the benefit of the world. The disciples didn't. They were acting as we often do - judging and reacting without first understanding.
(11) But didn't Jesus just tell the disciples in the last chapter to serve the poor? Yes, but while God commands charity as a daily responsibility in the Christian life, Jesus praised this woman's one-time extravagance, because Christ's death would happen only one time. Christ's words "you will not always have me" and "to prepare me for burial" indicates that the woman rightly recognized this once-for-all nature of Christ's work on the cross.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in fact, forms the basis for doing any good works for poor. Without the death of Christ, people would still be in their sins, well on the road to evertlasting punishment, and there would be little reason or motive for us to help the poor. Instead, God loved us so much, that He sent Christ to suffer for us, so that we would experience a new life of peace with God. Once we believe and understand how Christ's death buys our salvation, we cannot help but to gratefully want to help those in need too. This is why Jesus praised the woman (whose name was Mary, by the way, cf. John 12): she rightfully recognized that Jesus' death and resurrection was a pivotal act in all of history.
Be careful. These verses are not a license for Christians today to extravagantly waste money while neglecting the needy. You might give money towards the construction of the most extravagant and costly church building, but such a gift is displeasing to God if the needs of people are neglected as well. Jesus was pleased with the woman when she acted this way during this one key moment in history. But He would not be pleased if she were to do it all the time. See Matt. 25:31-46.
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