For some days now, I’ve been trying to get into the head of this random woman in Mark 14: 3 –5 for whom cost was no issue when it came to her worship.

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

Three hundred denarii was equivalent to the annual income of a day labourer. She not only offered such a costly item in her worship but was happy to take on the public shaming it attracted. This woman was reckless in her worship. She didn’t consider the cost to herself and neither did she request for a contribution from others towards her worship. It was hers alone. She calculated the cost to her and was not for one moment fazed by it. Yet others chose to offer their comment on her worship.

They considered her worship a waste of money. All they could see was waste. These people – it seemed – considered anything associated with or done for Jesus as waste. Their view was permanently coloured and tainted by their love for money – definitely not concern for the poor like they made it out to be. A a result they scolded the one who chose to worship without limit and without counting cost.

Where was theirs? What did theirs consist of? Why did her worship bother them? She just went about it quietly!

These were people who themselves would not engage in true worship, yet were quick to pass judgment on others who choose to recklessly worship – the kind of people who’s minds were fixated on cost and material wealth. They had no idea of Christ’s endless worth. They were angered at the perceived waste of resource thinly disguised by concern for the poor. In truth, it was their love of money and blindness to Christ’s worth that drove their reaction.

Instead of engaging in worship of their own, they chose to offer a scathing and critical commentary on hers. For them, it seemed like money was of greater value than the One who graced their space. She held a different view.

The people missed that which was among them, Him who is greater than Solomon whose wisdom the Queen of the South came from the ends of the earth to hear – Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭42‬ ‭
“The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”

This woman didn’t bother anyone but her reckless worship bothered many others. Except Christ of course – who mercifully came to her rescue hugely appreciative of her reckless act.

Worship is always determined by how much one gets Jesus, one’s knowledge of Him.