"A Memorial of Her"

Towards the last days of our Savior, Jesus Christ, He would be the ultimate example and wash the feet of His disciples. Before this wonderful act took place, Jesus, Himself was anointed with very precious oil.

He was in the house of Simon Peter, the leper, and was sitting there to eat. A woman entered into the room and took out an alabaster box. Inside this box contained ointment of spikenard.  Spikenard was very expensive oil. In Mark 14:5, the disciples get a little mad and ask why it wasn’t sold. It is even mentioned that this particular oil “might have been sold for more than three hundred pence.” In that time three hundred pence was equivalent to a year's wages, such as the average agricultural worker received.

Christ sort of rebuked them and told them to leave her alone.  He explains to them that she has done a good work to Him. He also brings them back down to earth when He tells them, “For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them: but me ye have not always.” (Mark 14:7) This silenced the disciples. Christ was trying to tell them something this woman already knew. While she had come to anoint Him to prepare for His burial, the disciples were preoccupied with the costly price of the spikenard and not on the act itself.

The Savior goes on to say about this woman, “Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” (Mark 14:9) She saw beyond the cost of the oil and knew the price of true love, devotion and sacrifice. She proved to the Savior that she was willing to do whatever was asked of her, and even what was not asked. She showed to the disciples what true discipleship looked like.

In our own lives there are things that we can be doing to show our love and adoration to Christ. While He is not here for us to anoint him with expensive oils, we can show our devotion in other ways. Simply by the way we live our lives we can prove our love and devotion to Him. I think the greatest way to show Christ how much we love Him is to do as He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)