Daily Word Of God
Mark 14:1, 3-12a, 13a-15
It was two days before the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by some trick and have him put to death. He was at Bethany in the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a virulent skin-disease; he was at table when a woman came in with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the ointment on his head. Some who were there said to one another indignantly, ‘Why this waste of ointment? Ointment like this could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor’; and they were angry with her.
But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why are you upsetting her? What she has done for me is a good work. You have the poor with you always, and you can be kind to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could: she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. In truth I tell you, wherever throughout all the world the gospel is proclaimed, what she has done will be told as well, in remembrance of her.’
Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, approached the chief priests with an offer to hand Jesus over to them. They were delighted to hear it, and promised to give him money; and he began to look for a way of betraying him when the opportunity should occur.
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and say to the owner of the house which he enters, “The Master says: Where is the room for me to eat the Passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the preparations for us there.’
Today's Pointers on God's Word
As you read the passage what words, phases or meanings caught your attention?
- In today’s Gospel we have the courageous act of reverence for Jesus by a woman. After her extravagant use of her costly ointment, she broke her jar. This was to symbolize that the total use of the ointment was for Jesus only.
- While the observers had good intentions of using the money for the poor, they missed the point that the woman’s act of anointing was in anticipation of Jesus’ burial.
- As disciples of Jesus we are called to care for the poor, but always in the light of serving with Jesus as our model and God the Father’s Will as our ultimate goal. There is nothing too “costly or extravagant” in God’s service. We should be willing to serve to the point of death as Jesus did.