“’Leave her alone,’ said Jesus. ‘Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.’” (Mark 14:6-8)

When the Maji came from the east in search of the birthplace of the King of the Jews in order to worship Him, they carried with them gifts. When they came to the place where the star had led them, they were filled with joy. “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11) These gifts were extravagant gifts. The birth of a king deserved the very best.

As the time for Jesus’ sacrifice was nearing, He came to the home of Simon the Leper. We know very little about Simon. One thing we can gather is that he must have been healed of his leprosy or he could not have held a dinner party with guests. As Jesus is reclining at the table, a woman came into the room “with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.” (Mark 14:3b) This was an extravagant gift and action by the woman. We know this because it caused quite a commotion among the guests. This was their concern, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” (Mark 14:4-5) They saw her act as one of waste.

Jesus responded in a very different manner. “’Leave her alone,’ said Jesus. ‘Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.’” (Mark 14:6-9)

Two extravagant offers of gifts to Jesus. One at His birth and one in preparation for his death. Extravagant gifts for a king and a gift for the Messiah are what has been offered. While these are wonderful gifts that are to be remembered, they are nothing in comparison to the extravagant gift which God has given to us. God’s gift to us comes through His gift of love offered through the eternal Son of God who had become a man in order to bring us back into a relationship with God. “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (Romans 5:15) Just as the perfume flowed over Jesus, God’s gift flows over and through our lives now and forevermore, when we will see and be with Jesus forever. That is God’s Extravagance.

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block