Be Still And Know

Matthew 26.7 NLT 'While Jesus was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.' Things were hotting up. Jesus had launched a tirade against the religious leaders and they, in turn, were now absolutely committed to seeing him put to death. We learn that they had a secret meeting at the home of the High Priest, Caiaphas, in order to plan how they might bring this about. Amidst all of this ferment we go to a home in the village of Bethany and meet a woman performing the most amazing act of devotion to Jesus. At the time it was quite usual for a Jewish woman to carry a little alabaster jar of precious perfume around her neck. This perfume could be incredibly valuable and in the Gospels of Mark and John we are told that it was worth 300 denarii. That would be about the same as someone would earn in a year! Just imagine! To say that her gift was generous would be a major understatement. It was a phenomenal act of devotion, and we needn’t be surprised t