Thursday night the plan was to have chicken. I don’t remember what kind of chicken, I just remember that the chicken was supposed to be cut into thin strips before it was put in the pan to be cooked. In our kitchen, we have six-pairs of scissors that I know of, two of which are specifically for cutting chicken. I grabbed the pair with the black handles and attempted to cut the chicken into thin strips while also cutting off the fat from the chicken. With my thumb in one handle and three fingers in the other I began to squeeze the scissors anticipating the blades would give a perfect cut right through the chicken breast. It sort of worked. The piece of the breast I was cutting was sliced but there was fat keeping it attached to the rest of the breast. So I tried the same approach with the fat that I did with the chicken breast. With my thumb in one handle and three fingers in the other I squeezed the scissors once again and this time anticipating a slice right through the fat. No such luck. I squeezed again. Nothing. I stopped my attempted cutting and thought this might be a good time to sharpen the scissors. I washed the scissors and then took them to the knife/scissor sharpener and ran each blade through 3 or 4 times because that’s what the guy on YouTube said you should do to sharpen your scissors.

I then proceeded back to the chicken breast with a brand new fervor to cut off the fat. Hoping the scissors would trim the fat, I squeezed the scissors only to once again be disappointed. My frustration is growing and I’m also beginning to squeeze the scissors harder and faster with zero fat-trimming success each time.

The event that brought the trimming to an end was coming soon. As I’m trying to cut with the one hand, my other hand is moving the chicken breast to try and get better angles at the fat. Eventually I moved my hand to a place that when I squeezed the scissors, one of the shears cut into my pinky. They can’t cut fat off of chicken but they have no issues removing my flesh. Not only is the fat still on the chicken but I’m also bleeding all over it. Now I’m angry–I’m indignant, not toward the chicken breast but toward the scissors. I took the scissors and slammed them in the sink, “That’ll teach ‘em.” I washed my wound and then went back for the scissors, grabbing them and throwing them in the trash. And just in case my wife wants to grab them out of the trash and clean them and try and restore them, I grabbed all the trash in the house, put it in a trash bag with the scissors and tied up the trash. Those scissors weren’t cutting any more chicken in our house! We’re gonna have to get new scissors now–scissors that can cut!

We will never know whether the scissors expected me to act indignantly toward them for their (and my) failure to cut fat; however, we can safely assume that the woman in Mark 14 did not expect some of the disciples to become indignant toward her for pouring expensive ointment over Jesus. Her act was an expression of love toward Jesus, it was an expression of worship.

Indignant is the word Mark uses to describe the response of some of the disciples toward the woman (who we know from John 12 is Mary–not the mother of Jesus) after she pours oil over Jesus. The word “indignant” is uses 9 other times in the New Testament. It is used to describe the reaction of the other 10 disciples when James and John ask in Mark 10 if they can sit on Jesus’ left and on his right. It is used to describe Jesus when little children are prevented from coming to him. And it’s the response of the ruler of the synagogue when Jesus healed on the Sabbath. The word means to be oppressed in mind, grieved, resentful.

The question needs to be asked, “Should the disciples have been indignant at Mary for pouring expensive oil over Jesus?” Anointing was a common practice; however, anointing with expensive oil was not common at all. The text says that some of the disciples are indignant because it could have been sold for 300 denarii. A denarii was a day’s wage so we’re talking almost a year’s salary could have been gained by selling the oil. The disciples who are indignant make an interesting argument but in order to fully understand what’s happening we need to look at John 12.

John 12 reveals to us that the one who suggested that the oil be sold and given to the poor is Judas. John is the only one to mention Judas which Matthew and Mark write, “some of the disciples.” This should indicate to us that Judas might be the one speaking but there were others in attendance who had the same thought, they just weren’t willing to vocalize it. John also gives us the reason Judas wants the oil sold. Judas was an embezzler. As treasurer of the disciples, he would skim money off the top for himself. Judas wasn’t interested in giving the money to the poor, he saw that oil as 10-months salary that he’s not able to steal from.

So back to the question “Should the disciples have been indignant at Mary for pouring oil over Jesus?” The answer is clearly, “No” and Jesus helps us answer that question with his response to Judas’ statement when he says, “Leave her alone.”

So how do we apply Mark 14:1-9? I think there’s at least three things we can take away from this true story:

Mary’s act was an act of worship that should have been supported by the Disciples. Mary demonstrates to us that as Christians we should not be ashamed to worship Christ. Mary was ridiculed by the very people who should have been on her side. Are you willing to be ridiculed for your worship of Jesus?
Mary’s act was an act of generous sacrifice. Christians should be willing to sacrifice generously as part of their worship of Christ. I’m not suggesting that you give 10-months of your salary; however, I am suggesting that you find a way to worship Jesus with some of your most valued possessions.
Mary’s act was criticized by people who should have supported her. Christians should be cautious with their criticism. The disciples who were indignant didn’t know Mary’s motive for pouring expensive oil on Jesus and they didn’t ask her what her motive was either. Instead, they jumped to a conclusion that Jesus said was unnecessary.

Carol Topp, CPA, is an accountant and the mother of teenagers. She consults with teenagers launching micro businesses, presents workshops, teaches classes, and has written several articles on business start-ups.

Read Carol Topp’s article.
Visit Carol’s Website

Dr. Calvin Miller is the Professor of Preaching and Pastoral Ministry at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of more than forty books of popular theology and inspiration.

Read Calvin Miller’s article in Leading Outreach

Stephen Bloom teaches economics and personal finance at Messiah College. He is a consultant at the United Methodist Stewardship Foundation of Central Pennsylvania and an estate planning and transactional attorney at the Pennsylvania law firm of Irwin & McKnight. And is author of The Believer’s Guide to Legal Issues.

Read Stephen bloom’s article on Crosswalk.com

It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.

I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God – not prayer but the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through my mind just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what I read, pondering over it, and applying it to my heart. To meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus, by means of the Word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart be brought into experimental communion with the Lord.

I began therefore to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in the morning. The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord’s blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God, searching as it were into every verse to get blessing out of it.

When we pray, we speak to God. Now, prayer, in order to be continued for any length of time in any other than a formal manner, requires, generally speaking, a measure of strength or godly desire, and the season, therefore, when this exercise of the soul can be most effectively performed is after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the Word of God, where we find our Father speaking to us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to instruct us, to humble us, to reprove us.

By the blessing of God, I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials, in various ways, than I had ever had before.

How different, when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon me.

When I first read this, conviction immediately fell upon me. How many days have I lived where making my soul happy in the Lord was my lowest priority? The answer is, “too many.” It’s time to change that.