From Matthew 26:6-13
I’m pretty sure this has been addressed in a previous devotion, but its worth repeating for anyone who missed that. To anoint someone generally means that you are setting someone apart for a specific, divinely appointed task. It’s understandable that the disciples wouldn’t immediately make this connection here in Matthew 6, because Jesus had already been set apart at His baptism in the Jordan river. In their eyes, there might have been no reason to set Him apart because He was already fulfilling His divinely appointed tasks. What’s more, anointing someone likely involved at least some level of ceremony and ritual. So when this woman comes up and just starts pouring expensive ointment on Jesus, the disciples’ failure to connect it with anointing makes sense. Thankfully, they have a good teacher.
Jesus draws the connections pretty explicitly starting in Matthew 6:12. He hells the disciples that this woman is anointing Him for His burial. She is marking Him as set apart, designated by the Heavenly Father to die on the cross for the sins of the world. He tells them that the use of ointment is not a waste, which was their initial conclusion, but it was an anointing. He even tells them the task and calling that He is being set aside for. And His final words regarding the woman still ring true, that “wherever the Gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Sure enough, we proclaim the Gospel today and we still look back to this woman who helped mark and prepare Jesus for the cross.
Focus on God
We are reminded in these verses that God graciously set Jesus apart for us.
Function in Our Lives
We are encouraged to keep our focus on the mission of God.
Topics to Pray About:
- Thank God for the work of Jesus
- Confess to God times where you get distracted by different approaches to ministry than you are used to
- Ask God to lead you to rest in the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection
In His Service,
J. LeBorious