ALMS - MARK 14:3-9

3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?
5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.
7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.
8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. KJV

In the Apostle Mark’s account of the anointing of Jesus with the ointment we find out that the ointment was spikenard according to verse 3. We also see that she brake the box, which speaks to us about some times things need to be broken before they can fulfill their purpose. The braking of the box to pour out the ointment is a type of breaking of Jesus body to pour out the oil of His Spirit to all those who are chosen of God. Although she poured it upon Jesus Head the Lord indicates that this was done for His Body in verse 8. This is a picture of the Holy Spirit poured out upon the head of Jesus but oozing down to anoint His whole body, the church, yes all Christians upon the earth. Verse 4 tells us that some had indignation within themselves, this is interesting because the strong displeasure (offense, anger) did not take long to manifest in their actions. This is generally the case, whatever we are rehearsing on our inside will be shown by our physical demonstration of words and deeds on the outside. It is said that what ever you practice inwardly to yourself will be fully performed outwardly to others. Notice that the offended party asked a question but the tone of the question was all wrong and the statement within the question was wrong also. They said, “Why was this waste of the ointment made?” The very mention of the word “waste” means something unproductive, so to properly answer their question Jesus would have to contradict their assessment of the oil. This is often the case when people are angry or offended they jump to conclusions that have no foundation. When one jumps to a conclusion of human reasoning you can be assured that God’s wisdom is not present in that decision. When anger (indignation) is present the tone will always be negative which propagates the wrong spirit. We should be interested in projecting the Holy Spirit of Love not the spirit of this world that leads to strife and division. We can see in verse 5 that the people offended had to say more which is a symptom of pride. To assume that you know how to better handle someone else assets without their input or permission is high-mindedness. Then they proceeded to show their ungodliness by murmuring against her. They failed to realize that she is a disciple of Jesus and complaining about someone you are connected to in the Body of Christ is flat out wrong, yes the sin of discord. We are told to mind our own business by not being busybodies in someone else’s business. This sounds easy but how many Christians practice this truth as a way of life. Never think that you can openly disrespect one of God’s Children in the Presence of the Lord Jesus and get away with it. The Lord will always correct unrighteousness because sin can not abide in God’s Presence without reproof. Sin or the person manifesting the sin must be removed (judged) or else the Presence of God will remove Himself. If we can hear His voice we should not harden our heart but repent in humbleness and truth. The problem is many have an improper attitude which hinders their ability to hear God’s voice. Thus, the Lord Jesus speaks His displeasure to those individuals who are causing discord among the people. In verse 6 we notice that Jesus did three separate things. First He makes a statement, “Let her alone”, in other words mind your own business. Stop meddling in another person’s mind, tend to your own business, not another’s. Secondly, the Lord ask the question, “why trouble ye her?” which begs for a reason. It is a very simple question in which they chose not to answer because the answer would have been self-incriminating. For a man (or woman) to openly and honestly admit they are at fault is very hard, if not impossible for the proud, who are given to anger. If they were sincere they would have answered that question with a heartfelt apology to the woman and Jesus. We can almost sense that the Lord was embarrassed by this type of behavior from those who listened to His teaching. This type of judgment and unjust criticism was exactly what He taught against. Thirdly, Jesus spoke a truth to the busybodies with the words, “she hath wrought a good work on me” which reveals to them God’s Will. Beloved of God do not think that whatever thought pops into your mind is in agreement with Jesus. We must be willing to prove all thoughts by the Word of God to see if they are godly. In this example we see quite the contrary because Jesus was in favor of what the women did while those who complained fell out of favor with God. In verse 7 the personal pronoun “you” is used about five (5) times to emphasize the fact that you can give to the poor whenever you want to. Jesus was basically telling the complainers if you want to bring the poor into this conversation go show yourselves as givers to the poor. Many people speak all the time about good deeds that could be done but the Holy Bible teaches less speaking and more doing of those good deeds. Therefore Jesus was reminding the murmurs to either put-up the money for giving to the poor yourself or shut-up speaking about others giving to the poor. We have stated before in another financial write-up (Alms - Mark 6:34-44), “it is never acceptable to God for you to expect from others what you are not willing to do yourself”. Remember Jesus led by example giving us a real and notable pattern to follow. Jesus shed light on the purpose for this act by informing everyone (who was present and those that will read the account later) that what this disciple of God did was of the Holy Ghost. What she demonstrated was an act of courage because it was unusual, for her to obey this unction from the Holy Spirit was divine. Jesus only planned to die once so this was an all or nothing proposition from God. She knew that either she was going to look like a fool or at best she hoped that she would not lose her friendship with Jesus. This speaks volumes to us about the person of Jesus because for her to think that Jesus would love her no matter what is really the essence of Christianity. As we can see the test proved positive on all accounts, she did not lose any favor with God and she actual pleased the Lord. The smell of this very costly ointment stayed with Jesus to His death, through His burial and even after His resurrection from the dead. Remember this was not a touch under the chin and around the cheeks but rather a whole box poured upon His Hair flowing over His whole body. Do you know how long it takes to get a particular smell out of your hair? Probably days to weeks for it to dissipate on it’s own. Yes, no cheap common cologne will do for our Precious Lord and Savior Jesus. Since these scriptures emphasize the importance of giving “alms” let us look at the statement in verse 8. The words of Jesus stated, “She hath done what she could”. This statement always apply to each and every Christian when it comes to the subject of giving (alms or offerings). We are instructed by God to only give what we can afford to give. That same instruction is also indirectly discouraging us from giving what we shouldn’t give (money or something that we don’t have in our possession right now). As is always the case with giving of “alms” to an individual, only give of what you own. Please do not commit money for “alms” from an up coming check. Simply wait until you have the money in your possession before obligating a gift based upon your future income. If you would like to plan on giving a gift from your expected extra income in the future that is OK as long as you don’t give it prematurely, through borrowing from someone else to satisfy your own heart’s desire. It is also unwise the base a gift of “alms” upon your own personal need. The Holy Bible does not teach us to calculate how much we need first for the purpose of determining what we should give to another. Give for the purpose of blessing another not considering how much profit you can reap for doing a good deed. As we see in this example there is no indication that the woman was seeking a great return from Jesus and yet the Lord did something for her far better than money could buy. Due to her obedience to the Holy Spirit she gained the eternal reward of a verbally recorded, “well done thou good and faithful servant” spoken from the lips of God (verse 9 paraphrased) for the entire world to read. Amen!

In His Love, Eric & Angela Foster

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