Agape Love Has No Price
A woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. (Mark 14:3)
Mark 4:3-11; Matt. 26:6-16; Deut. 15:11; Jer. 31:3; John 16:27; I Pet. 1:8
What Is God Saying?
Here, we have the striking contrast between God's extravagant love and our narrow greed. The disciples had a name for what the woman did—waste. Jesus called her extravagant deed an act of love, a wise and permanent investment. In fact, ‘wherever the Gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.’ They called it wrong. Jesus called it beautiful. ‘It is right to care for the poor,’ He said, ‘and they are always with you. You don't need to neglect them, and you shouldn't.’ But their sudden interest in those in poverty has about it the ring of inauthenticity. If their love for Jesus had risen from the depths of gratitude, as did hers, they would have seen that helping the poor and honoring the Lord with the best that we have are not incompatible. Their talk about waste was really about their loss. In an extended parallel passage in Luke, Jesus says, ‘He who is forgiven little, loves little.’
How Does This Apply To Us?
We can afford to be extravagant in love because we have received so much, and the source of all love, our Heavenly Father, has so much more to give. Extravagant love is an overflowing cup, a fountain of blessing fed from an eternal and boundless supply. So let us love extravagantly. There is always enough of God's love. The more we give away, the more we keep. The more we keep, the more we lose. In coming to prayer, the highest priority ought to be to know that which passes knowledge (the love of Christ) and to be filled with that which can never be exhausted (all the fullness of God). Read Eph 3:14-19 again and again with ever deeper appreciation and understanding. It is the best way to enter the treasure house of prayer.
Pray With Me
Lord, in the example of the woman's extravagant love, You teach me a great lesson. She poured out her prized possession. She sacrificed the very best. She drew aside the curtain to show me how You have loved me and how I should love You. ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only…’ You gave the choicest possession of Your vast riches. The life of Your own beloved Son was broken and poured out. ‘Greater love has no man than this.’ At Calvary, there was the apparent triumph of darkness and hate, but it was a victory of light and love. On the Cross, I see the self-abandoning love of God.
O God, forgive me that I have not broken the jar of self nor poured out the gift of service in any way that is equal to the debt I owe. Forgive me for lifting the cover carefully and measuring the contents drop by drop. I resolve that my life for You shall not be marked by careful measuring. This is the way of suffocation and bondage. I pray that my life shall be as the gift of the woman-broken and poured out! Extravagant love does not care for price or pride. Extravagant love is never wasted. Nothing is more permanently or wisely invested.
In the name of Him, whose life was broken and poured out for me. Amen.
Moving On In The Life Of Prayer
Let our prayer become and remain a continual offering of ourselves to the love of God and the service of others for His sake. The more we are determined to be extravagant in our love toward others, the more God's extravagant love fills our lives to overflowing. Prayer is the channel for receiving God's blessing and becomes a channel for sharing His blessing. Prayer becomes a strong and meaningful part of our lives as it helps us who are so greatly blessed to be a great blessing. Can we afford to be extravagant in sharing God's love? Can we afford not to be?
