Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me

 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."  Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.  But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people."

And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.  But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste?  For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor."  But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman?  For she has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.  For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.  Assuredly, 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."

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?"  And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.  So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

- Matthew 26:1-16

 In yesterday's reading, Jesus gave His final summation in the discourse on the end times, and the time of His Second Coming:  "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'  Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'  And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuh as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'  Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:  for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'  Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?'  Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'  And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."  Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.  But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people."   My study bible comments that Jesus is delivered up to His Passion by His accusers, but He goes willingly.  Unless He had willed to go, His accusers could never have taken Him.  After His Resurrection, many saints imitated Christ by willingly going to martyrdom.

And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.  But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste?  For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor."  But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman?  For she has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.  For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.  Assuredly, 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."  My study bible says that Jesus accepts this honor from the woman in her newly found faith.  He particularly accepts it as a sign of His coming burial.  St. John Chrysostom comments that the disciples were not mistaken in principle:  a mercy shown to the poor is more fitting than outward signs shown even to God (25:40; James 1:27).   But they did not understand that once the gift had been given, it was a greater mercy to accept it with love.  He writes, "IF anyone had asked Christ before the woman did this, He would not have approved it.  But after she had done it, He looks only to the gift itself.  For after the fragrant oil had been poured, what good was a rebuke?  Likewise, if you should see anything providing a sacred vessel or ornament for the walls of the church, do not spoil his zeal.  But if beforehand he asks about it, command him to give instead to the poor."  Simon the leper must have been healed by Jesus earlier, as lepers were forbidden to live in towns.  Because of her faith, Jesus promises perpetual public memory of this woman.  My study bible notes that there is no consensus as to her identity in relation to accounts of similar events in Mark 14:3-9; Luke 7:36-38; and John 12:1-8.  Some patristic commentators say that there were three different women in these four accounts, others that there were only two.

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?"  And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.  So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.  On his own initiative, Judas seeks to betray Jesus.  While his motives have been historically debated, both patristic writers and the liturgical hymns in the Eastern Church declare that greed was his primary motive, following John 12:4-6, in which John states that Judas was particularly upset about the "waste" of myrrh in the preceding story because he was a thief (see also 1 Timothy 6:10).   The phrase used here, one of the twelve, is not used in order to identify Judas (already known to Matthew's hearers) but rather to emphasize the depth of betrayal  -- that it was one of Christ's closest followers.

The extravagance of this anointing of Christ perhaps tells us a deeper story than meets the eye.  The suggestion that the money should have gone to the poor ignores the fact that Christ Himself is poor -- poor not only in the immediate sense in which we think about a lack of wealth or goods, but poor also in the sense that He is about to endure a terrible suffering and death, and that He will undergo misery and anguish.  As such this act of gratitude on the part of the woman can also be seen as an act of compassion.  Just as Jesus says, she has done a good work for Him, she has anointed His body for burial.  When we use our compassion, when we follow the heart of gratitude and love, our acts may work in ways that are even mysterious to us.  We could even consider the idea that this anointing by the woman is a kind of healing balm for Jesus, one that is in full acceptance of the Cross, and yet anointing with a kind of honor in preparation for His burial.  At least, this seems to be the way that Christ sees it.  Compassionate behavior works in this strange way, in that it stands out from the norm, the accepted way of understanding charity.  St. John Chrysostom says that the objection in favor of donation to the poor is not wrong in principle, but John's Gospel tells us it is made by Judas as he kept the money and stole from the treasury.  But what is noticeable in this story is not the objection, but Jesus' rebuke in front of the rest of the disciples.  Here that rebuke is general, but if the objection came specifically from Judas, the rebuke would be perceived in response to him personally.  As such, the failure to take Jesus' correction in a humble way is another sign of pride and lack of real discipleship.  This woman understands fully Jesus' love, but Judas fails to grasp it or understand it for himself.  Discipleship is more than following a Teacher, it is understanding the love of Christ and sharing in it.  Jesus will give a final command to the disciples at the Last Supper, to "love one another as I have loved you" (Jesus repeats this command three times in John's Gospel).  St. Paul writes of the fruits of the Spirit, which include love, "against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).  This woman's act of compassion and gratitude is born of love, and therefore not subject to the usual ways by which we judge.  It is not efficient and not nominally given to the "right people" we define as poor.  But it is an act of love and true faith, and therefore challenges us to broaden our understanding of what our faith is and does.  Moreover, it is deeply personal, as are all the stories we read of Christ when He is "moved with compassion."  Compassion calls us out of ourselves and into a complete understanding of what it is to love another as ourselves.  Let us seek to love as He commands, with the extravagance of gratitude.