Words of Reflection
The gospels give us a beautiful portrait of worship in the days just before Jesus is arrested. Matthew records it in chapter 26 of his gospel:
“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”—Matthew 26:6-13 (NIV)
This “beautiful thing” is an act of sacrificial worship. In her extravagant gift we find an echo of David’s pledge to not offer to God that which costs nothing (2 Samuel 24:24). Jesus not only commends her, but says her example will live on in the gospel story…which, of course, it did!
As we, too, prepare for Jesus’ burial, there is a continual call for us to offer all that we are, all that we have, and all that we hope to be to God. We die to self as an act of sacrifice, and that sacrifice becomes worship, an “aroma pleasing to the LORD” (Lev. 1:9). During this season our gaze is not only inward…it is ultimately outward and upward to the only “worthy King of Kings,” who gave himself as a sacrifice for us.
How can we respond any other way?
Scripture for Meditation:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
—Romans 12:1 (NIV)
Song: Alabaster Heart (lyrics here)
Questions for Reflection
Have you found this intentional season of reflection sometimes causing your gaze to turn exclusively inward? How might you embrace in a new a deeper way the kind of worship to which Paul exhorts us?
Spend some time pondering David’s words, “I will not offer to God that which costs me nothing.” What does sacrificial worship look like to you? Do you embrace it or resist it?
Verse 2 of today’s song includes these words:
There’s a lifetime worth of worship
In the nuance of Your namesPrayerfully spend some time pondering that lyric. What names for God most inspire you to worship?