The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.
Matthew 26:11
A woman was worshipping Jesus with fragrant perfume and tears of weeping. He had suddenly become the center of the moment. It was one of the last precious moments before His sacrifice. It was a moment of personal, physical and intimate engagement with the ones for whom He came - the broken and the lost.
The disciples objected to this; they were indignant, even. "Why this waste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor." Similar to the Pharisees in verses 3-5, they were focused on an agenda, be it personal or corporate. Such are the distractions so very common to every man.
But likely, this perfume was still lingering in the vicious cocktail of senses that flooded His body as He hung on the cross. It was the only sense that brought any comfort to Him as He hung there alone. And so the joy set before Him may have sprung to life within His soul. One could imagine that He conceived of the promise of a Bride consisting of the likes of this one woman. This woman who sacrificed so much more than all she had just to worship Him in such an intimate way.
God is looking for ones like her. No wonder Jesus declared that her act would accompany the gospel wherever it would be told. For she refused to be distracted by the judgments and concerns of onlookers.
Set you heart with deliberate determined adoration - adoration in word and deed. Refuse to let the concerns of this world distract you from engaging this Beautiful King. This Lover of your soul. This Vein of Precious Gold in a sea of base rock.
