Made to last (4)

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me…She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Mark 14.6, 8, 9

We frequently associate things that last with beauty – beautiful pictures, stories, songs, sights, and so forth. What many people regard as beautiful tends to be the sort of thing that endures.

William Cowper offered a succinct definition of this notion of beauty in his 1785 poem, The Task. There he wrote, “Things must be beautiful which daily viewed/Please daily, and whose novelty survives/ Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years.”

Cowper is certainly correct; however, his definition doesn’t help us very much in understanding the several components of a creation which, taken together, make it pleasing and enduring as a beautiful thing.

Perhaps Jesus can be of some help. In the story of His anointing by an anonymous woman, Jesus gives us some important insights concerning things beautiful and thus, things made to last. Simply put, whatever is beautiful to Jesus will last, because He will make it last.

But what kinds of things are beautiful to Jesus?

I want us to note five observations from this passage which can help us to understand the notion of beauty as Jesus understands it, and which can guide our thinking about how to make things that last out of our own everyday words and deeds.

Intended to please Him

First, things last which are intended to honor and please the Lord Jesus. Again we come back to the notion of intentionality which we considered in our second installment in this series. There we observed that, if we want to make something that lasts, we must decide to do so. And this means devoting whatever we do to the praise and honor of God – that He might be known, adored, and obeyed, and that His blessings might reach to others for generations to come.

Certainly this anonymous woman intended to honor Jesus with her selfless act of anointing Him with oil. We can imagine that this act involved a certain amount of planning and preparation, as well as proper timing, so that she could accomplish her desire of honoring her Lord with her offering.

Things last when we intend them to, and when, through prayer, preparation, planning, and proper execution, we are able to bring them to expression in just the right way and time.

Delight and pleasure

Things last that give pleasure to others, as, no doubt, the fragrance of this expensive perfume delighted the guests who were in Simon’s home on this occasion.

Part of the purpose of making something beautiful is to give pleasure to those who experience it, a measure of the pleasure which the maker of the beautiful object experiences in making and offering it. Giving delight and pleasure fits well with the purpose of honoring and pleasing the Lord, for it certainly pleases Him when the attention of others is drawn toward Him through a beautiful gesture such as this.

Concerning our daily words and deeds, we must take care to be mindful of what we say and do, that it will express grace and offer edification to the people around us.

Offered as a sacrifice

Making things that last should cost us something. It certainly cost this woman. Mark tells us that the perfume with which she anointed Him was “very costly”, that it was worth “three hundred denarii” or about a year’s salary for a common laborer.

But this was all she had, the most precious thing she could give, in order to honor Jesus. And while to some her offering seemed wasteful, Jesus acknowledge that she had “done what she could” in making this sacrifice to bring honor and glory to Him. The woman had no selfish interests in this offering – indeed, we don’t even know her name. It was a sacrifice of love, pure and simple.

Using our daily words and deeds in lasting ways will involve some sacrifice on our parts – going out of the way, even becoming inconvenienced, in order to speak a word of edification or offer help to a person in need.

Advancing His purposes

We note, fourth, that Jesus placed His own interpretation on this gift. He used this woman’s offering, which she doubtless intended only to honor Jesus and to encourage others to think highly of Him, as a way of bearing witness to His work. He even saw this act as part of His preparation for burial.

Thus He commended this act to the generations because it contributed to His redemptive purposes. Unlike Peter, who tried twice to block the Lord’s passage to the grave, this woman acknowledged the necessity of His death, albeit unwittingly, and gave Jesus an opportunity to remind the world why He had come.

We can make our own words and deeds contribute to the Kingdom purposes of Christ if we will be careful to seek the Kingdom of God in all we do and say.

Drawing others to consider Jesus

Finally, things are beautiful to Jesus which have the power, as Cowper suggested, to delight and to draw others to Jesus generation after generation. This woman’s offering certainly accomplished that; the story of this anointing of Jesus also appears in Matthew’s gospel (John records another anointing, but by Mary), and it is preached and explained and appreciated afresh in every generation.

Is it possible that our everyday words and deeds could be regarded as beautiful to the Lord Jesus and therefore likely to last? We must believe it is so. By careful planning and preparation we can learn to devote our speech and works to honoring the Lord, so that their goodness, excellence, usefulness, benefit to others, and contribution  to the progress of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit make them beautiful offerings to the Lord.

Our daily gifts and offerings may be humble in comparison with this woman’s sacrifice. Nevertheless, when they are given in a way that makes them beautiful to Jesus, we may expect that they will partake of that quality which, as they are “daily viewed” and experienced, “Please daily,” and will be appreciated by others and received as lasting offerings by our Lord Himself.