3And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor." And they criticized her sharply.
6But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."
Sometimes we get so busy doing good and important things that we miss opportunities to good and important things. Pause in your hurry to get somewhere to take the time to smell the roses, they bloom only for a short while. Pause in working so hard to support your family to take the time to enjoy your family, they are only with you for a short while. Pause in working so hard to help a group to take the time to help an individual, that opportunity may never come again.
How do you choose between doing something that is important and good and doing another thing that is important and good, especially when they are in complete contrast to one another. It was important and good that the disciples didn't waste things and tried to give as much to the poor as they could. But it was also important and good that the woman anointed Jesus. My philosophy in how to choose? Since both are important and good, you can't make a wrong choice! This removes much of the burden in weighing the importance of each choice. Therefore make the choice based on possible missed opportunities, or what you would enjoy doing most. Jesus would only be with them for a short while, so the right choice here was to do what would have otherwise been a missed opportunity.
This story is a little hard to grasp really well because it is from a very different time and culture. Today I cannot fathom what it meant to have costly fragrant oil poured over someone's head. In today's culture it would probably be an act of hate, not love. So my only indication that what she did was a good thing is Jesus' statement that she did a good thing.
Jesus said she came beforehand to anoint His body for burial. Was that really her intention when she poured the oil over His head? He has been preaching his upcoming death. If I were one of the disciples I would probably be in a state of denial. And if not, I would probably be trying to get as much out of my time with Him as possible. Here is one person who is instead, preparing Jesus for his death and burial. Even if she was just anointing Him, not realizing it would be for His burial, Jesus recognized this work of love and made sure its importance was understood by the others.
Even though I have often thought of this verse as a lesson in taking the opportunity to do good things that we might only have limited chances to do, that is really not where Jesus' remarks go. Yes, he is explaining that she took the opportunity, but he isn't going on to explain that they are missing opportunities. Instead he is criticizing their judgment of her. So I think this is meant to be another lesson in not judging others.
Jesus said she did what she could. There are many good works that can be done for Jesus. We are not all capable of doing the same things. Everyone is given different opportunities and abilities to do different things. Jesus only asks that we do what we can. But do not judge others when we see them doing something different than us. They may just be doing what they can.