Mark 14:6 | A Beatuiful Thing
Mark 14 records a story of worship. While Jesus was dining with his disciples, a woman came in and anointed his feet with expensive perfume and worshiped him. Some of the disciples were offended at the gesture. They wondered what gave her the right to do something like that! They thought Jesus would be offended. They argued that the money for the perfume could have been given to the poor.
In Mark 14:6 NIV, Jesus said, “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
Jesus did not reject this woman; he loved her. The way she worshiped was regarded as a beautiful thing to Jesus, to the point that he declared later in Mark 14:9 NIV, “Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
I love this story because it contrasts the strategies and agendas of the disciples and people gathered with the humility, purity, and extravagance of this woman’s offering. What she brought to Jesus was a humble gift of extravagant worship. The perfume was said to be worth a year’s wages, and this woman dumped it on Jesus’s feet.
Why would she do this? She recognized who Jesus was.
Looking at the Savior, she didn’t see a religious leader. She didn’t consider him to be a social revolutionary. She didn’t see him as a great prophet or a wise teacher. She saw him as the son of God. She saw him as the king, the deliverer, the glorious one.
Having encountered the Messiah in her deliverance, she was compelled to give God glory through her worship.
This morning, I consider this the most beautiful way to worship God. There are many other important ways we worship and respond to God, but Jesus specifically calls out this form of worship.
Think about this. What if Mark, the writer of this gospel, was in the room condemning the woman for her act when Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” I wonder if that convicted him, and when writing this gospel, he remembered this moment and recognized with tears in his eyes just how beautiful that worship was? I wonder if he later wished he had joined her in blessing the son?
How will you worship God?
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