She hath done what she could

True worship is costly. Mary demonstrated this when she came ‘having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head’, v. 3. She had kept this expensive ointment especially for the Lord, not even using it to anoint the body of her own brother Lazarus who had recently died, John 11. 14. Sadly, such Christ-centred devotion provoked the criticism of the disciples. Knowing the monetary value of the ointment they viewed her worship as waste, Mark 14. 4, 5. But we cannot measure worship in pounds and pence. Only the Lord assesses rightly the quality of our worship. He appreciated what Mary had done and He defended her, ‘Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me’, v. 6.

Mary did not have much time. The Lord Jesus was to be crucified shortly and this may have been her last opportunity to anoint Him, vv. 1, 7. Her expression of love for Christ was deeply personal. While the disciples misunderstood it, the Saviour commended her, ‘She hath done what she could’, v. 8. In the Jewish sacrificial system offerings ranged in size from small birds to large bullocks, Lev. 1. 5, 14. The important thing about our worship is not the size of our offering in comparison to others, but that we do what we can. Sitting over against the temple treasury the Lord Jesus drew the attention of His disciples to a poor widow woman who gave merely two mites. As far as Christ was concerned she had ‘cast in more than they all’, Luke 21. 3. Mary’s worship was also highly intelligent. She had a greater understanding of what was to take place over the next few days than all the disciples put together. Knowing that the Lord Jesus was going to die and on the third day rise again ‘she [came] aforehand to anoint [His] body to the burying’, Mark 14. 8. She did not accompany the other women who went to the tomb to anoint Him, knowing He would not be there. She had developed such spiritual perception by sitting at His feet and hearing His words, Luke 10. 39. It is as we study the word of God that we too will be equipped to worship. God remembers His people’s worship, and Mary’s is not forgotten, Mark 14. 9.