Basics

Matthew 26:6-12
“Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a women 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 women? 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.”

In this passage we get the point that Jesus’ disciples were thinking in a way that they were instructed to think. They were thinking selflessly, about the poor. Trying to be good Stuarts of what has been presented. This expensive oil could have fed a lot of people and done a lot of good for the progression of the gospel and the mission of Christ. But Jesus’ response was not to agree with this at this moment and sell this ointment and feed the poor, but rather his response was one that reflects worship and gratitude. “ For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”
Our relationship with Jesus has to be the number one priority in our lives as Christians. If we lose sight of this we lost sight of the point. Our faith is not earned it’s given. I can never feed enough poor, hungry people to make Jesus happy with me. Jesus is happy with me when I allow him to die for me and simply prepare him for his burial. This women’s action show acceptance, acceptance to the point that she will sit their and let Jesus die and do all the work for her. Her action is recognition of her inadequacy to play a role in earning the approval of Jesus. So how does she do this? She prepared him for his burial. An act of submission.
This is a lesson that I know for a fact that I need to learn. How often do we as Christians get so carried away with missions and evangelism that we forget to just sit with Jesus? This is very simple lesson on paper and not impressive. But I think that is the point in a lot of ways, Jesus was not an impressive person, infact he was so unimpressive that they did not believe that he was in fact who he said he was, to such a degree that they killed him. The gospel is not intended to be impressive. It’s a humble writing about a man who came to die for us and do everything.
I love to read theology and learn big words and concepts to better explain the deep and never ending truths of the Bible and how these are recognized in the world that we live in. But at the end of the day if I forget to sit with Jesus then what was the point? He is the center of all the theology but so often we mask him behind a concept, or an abstract philosophical idea.
Missions are not wrong by any means, and in fact they are entirely necessary but we need to get our heads in the right place first. When we get side tracked and stumble back into where we came from, we need to have the humility to look at the situation and recognize that we have to get back to basics because it clearly is not that basic.