Commentary - Matthew 26:6-13

Bird's-eye view

This brief, potent account describes an act of extravagant worship that stands in stark contrast to the calculated treachery that surrounds it. As the religious leaders are plotting Jesus' death and Judas is about to sell Him for thirty pieces of silver, a woman performs an act of what the world calls "waste," but what heaven calls beautiful worship. She anoints Jesus with an extremely expensive perfume, an act that the disciples, with their pragmatic and business-like minds, immediately condemn. Jesus, however, sees her heart and understands the profound theological significance of her action. He defends her, explaining that her devotion is a preparation for His imminent burial. This woman, unlike the twelve, grasped the necessity of His death. Her act of lavish love becomes so central to the story that Jesus declares it will be remembered wherever the gospel is preached. It is a story about the collision of two economies: the world's economy of calculated utility and the kingdom's economy of sacrificial love and worship.

The scene is thick with irony. The disciples, who should have been preparing to honor their Lord in His death, are instead critiquing an act of honor. They are concerned with the poor, but in a way that is abstract and self-righteous, while this woman is concerned with the Christ who is present with them. Jesus' response is not a dismissal of charity, but a reordering of priorities. There are moments when the appropriate response to the presence of God is not careful calculation but abandoned adoration. This woman's worshipful "waste" is a prophetic act, anointing the Lamb of God for the slaughter, and it serves as an eternal rebuke to all forms of utilitarian, cost-counting religion.

Outline

Context In Matthew

This event is strategically placed by Matthew. It comes immediately after Jesus has once again predicted His crucifixion (Matt 26:2) and the chief priests and elders have conspired to arrest and kill Him (Matt 26:3-5). It is immediately followed by Judas Iscariot's agreement to betray Jesus (Matt 26:14-16). The anointing at Bethany therefore serves as a luminous centerpiece of pure devotion, flanked on both sides by the darkest of human treachery. While the world's rulers plot and a disciple betrays, this woman worships. Her action highlights the blindness of the disciples, who are still thinking in earthly terms, and the greed of Judas, for whom the perfume represents only its monetary value. The story sets the stage for the Passion narrative, showing that while men were busy with their wicked calculations, God was preparing His Son for the sacrifice through an unexpected act of love.

Key Issues

The Aroma of the Gospel

There are two smells that fill the houses in this chapter. In the house of Caiaphas the high priest, there is the stench of death, conspiracy, and betrayal. But here in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, the house is filled with the fragrance of this costly perfume. This is the aroma of self-giving love, the fragrance of true worship. Paul tells us that we are to God the "aroma of Christ" (2 Cor. 2:15). This woman's act is a physical manifestation of that spiritual reality. Her worship was not silent, contained, or discreet; it filled the entire house, and it has filled the entire world for two millennia.

The disciples, in their spiritual dullness, could only smell wasted money. They had a cost-benefit analysis approach to discipleship. But Jesus smelled something else entirely. He smelled a heart that understood, at some level, what was about to happen. He smelled an act of preparation for the grave. The gospel itself is this aroma. To those who are perishing, it is the stench of death, a foolish waste. But to those who are being saved, it is the fragrance of life. This woman's act was a sermon in perfume, a proclamation of the value of the one who was about to be broken for the life of the world.

Verse by Verse Commentary

6-7 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table.

The setting is significant. Bethany was a place of friendship for Jesus, the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. The dinner is at the house of a man called Simon the leper, a man almost certainly healed by Jesus, as lepers were not permitted to host dinner parties. So this is a house of gratitude. Into this scene comes an unnamed woman, John's gospel identifies her as Mary of Bethany, with an alabaster flask. This was not a common bottle; alabaster was a soft, beautiful stone, and these flasks were often sealed, meant to be broken for a single, significant use. The perfume was very costly, likely worth a year's wages for a common laborer. Her action is one of complete abandon. She doesn't dab a little on Him; she pours it out over His head, the customary place for anointing an honored guest or a king. It is an act of lavish, unrestrained, public honor.

8-9 But when the disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”

The reaction of the disciples is immediate and uniform: indignation. They see this beautiful act through the lens of a bookkeeper. Their question, "Why this waste?" reveals a heart that measures everything by its practical utility. To them, this is a squandered asset. Their proposed alternative sounds pious and reasonable: sell it and give the proceeds to the poor. This is the logic of the pragmatist, the social justice warrior, the religious bean-counter. John's gospel tells us that Judas was the ringleader in this complaint, and that his concern for the poor was a sham to cover his own greed (John 12:4-6). But here in Matthew, it is "the disciples" plural. Judas's sinful motive had found a plausible, righteous-sounding hook to hang itself on, and the others, in their spiritual shortsightedness, went right along with it.

10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good work to Me.

Jesus immediately comes to her defense. He perceives their grumbling and cuts it short. "Why do you bother the woman?" is a sharp rebuke. They were causing her trouble, harassing her for an act of pure devotion. Then He reframes her action entirely. They called it "waste"; He calls it a good work, or more literally, a "beautiful work." The issue is not one of good versus bad, but of seeing true spiritual beauty. Her act was beautiful because it was directed at Him ("to Me"). Worship that is centered on Christ is never a waste, no matter how extravagant it may appear to the world.

11 For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me.

This is one of the most frequently misunderstood verses in the Bible. It is not a justification for neglecting the poor. Jesus is alluding to Deuteronomy 15:11, which says, "For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'" The command to care for the poor is a standing, perpetual obligation. Jesus is not revoking it. He is establishing a principle of priority and opportunity. The disciples would have a lifetime of opportunities to serve the poor. But their opportunity to minister directly to the physical person of Jesus, the incarnate God, was limited to a few more days. This was a unique, unrepeatable moment in redemptive history, and the woman seized it. True wisdom is knowing what time it is, and this woman knew.

12 For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.

Here Jesus gives the ultimate interpretation of her act. Whether she was fully conscious of it or not, her anointing was a prophetic preparation for His death. In the ancient world, bodies were anointed with spices and perfumes for burial. Because of the haste surrounding Jesus' crucifixion and the Sabbath, the women who went to the tomb on Sunday morning were going to perform this task, but they would find the tomb empty. In God's providence, this woman performed the rite ahead of time. While the disciples were still arguing about who would be greatest in the kingdom and rebuking Jesus for talk of His death, this woman was anointing Him for it. She had listened to His words and, unlike the men, she had believed them. Her love was not sentimental; it was profoundly theological.

13 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

This is an astonishing promise. Jesus elevates her simple, impulsive act of love to the level of the gospel itself. It is to be an integral part of the story of salvation. And why? Because her act encapsulates the gospel. The gospel is about a costly sacrifice, an extravagant outpouring of love that the world deems foolishness and waste. The Son of God poured out His own life, a thing of infinite value, for sinners. This woman's act was a small-scale picture of that grand reality. She gave her most valuable possession to honor Him, and in doing so, became a permanent illustration of the kind of self-giving love that lies at the heart of the Christian faith. And Jesus' promise has been kept. We are still telling her story today.

Application

This passage confronts us directly with the question of what we consider to be "waste." Our culture, and often our churches, are run by the disciples' calculator. We measure everything in terms of efficiency, budget, return on investment, and practical outcome. We want our religion to be sensible, prudent, and justifiable on a spreadsheet. But this woman reminds us that love for Christ is not always sensible. True worship is sometimes wildly extravagant.

We must ask ourselves if there is anything in our lives that looks like this woman's alabaster jar. Is there any part of our time, our talent, our treasure that we are willing to "waste" on Christ, to pour out for no other reason than that we love Him and believe He is worthy? This could be time spent in prayer that doesn't produce a measurable outcome, money given to the church's ministry that goes beyond a calculated tithe, or energy expended in service that no one sees or applauds. The disciples saw a year's wages being poured onto the floor. Jesus saw a beautiful act of worship that prepared Him for the cross.

The core of the application is this: we must stop evaluating our devotion with the world's calculator. God is not a cosmic accountant demanding a justification for every expenditure. He is a Father who delights in the lavish, sometimes foolish, outpourings of His children's love. The gospel frees us from the tyranny of utilitarianism. Because Christ "wasted" His life for us, we are now free to "waste" our lives for Him. And in that glorious waste, we will find that nothing has been wasted at all, but rather invested in an economy where the returns are eternal.