OCT 15 | Why Jesus Defended a Woman Who "Wasted" a Year's Wages: The Ministry of Unnecessary Beauty


What if everything you've been taught about practical Christianity is missing something essential? What if God actually likes extravagance?

I know that sounds controversial—maybe even wasteful—but stick with me. There's a story in the Bible that has made efficiency-minded people uncomfortable for two thousand years. And the way Jesus responds to it might completely change how you think about worship, generosity, and the character of God himself.

The $50,000 Act of Worship That Started a Controversy

Picture this scene: It's just days before Jesus's crucifixion. He's having dinner in Bethany with his friend Lazarus—the guy he literally raised from the dead. And while everyone's reclining at the table, Lazarus's sister Mary does something absolutely shocking.

She takes a pound of pure nard—an expensive oil imported all the way from India—and pours it out on Jesus's feet. Then she wipes his feet with her hair.

Now, here's the detail that makes this story scandalous: this wasn't a nice gesture. This was a year's wages. The text tells us it was worth three hundred denarii. If you're making $50,000 a year, she just poured out $50,000 worth of perfume. On feet. Feet that were about to walk dusty Palestinian roads.

The room immediately filled with the fragrance of the perfume. And it also filled with something else: tension.

The Objection That Sounds Really Reasonable

Judas Iscariot—yes, that Judas—immediately objects: "Why wasn't this sold and the money given to the poor?" (John 12:5)

And honestly? That's a really good question.

If someone at your church took their entire annual salary and bought flowers for the sanctuary instead of feeding the homeless, you'd have questions too. It seems irresponsible. Wasteful. Even selfish when there are so many needs in the world.

The Gospel of John tells us that Judas didn't actually care about the poor—he was a thief who helped himself to the money bag. But his question sounds right. It sounds practical. Responsible. Efficient.

And that's exactly why Jesus's response is so important.

When God Defends "Waste"

Jesus says something that should make us pause and rethink our entire approach to worship:

"Leave her alone. She has anointed me for burial. You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me." (John 12:7-8)

Now, before anyone misunderstands: Jesus isn't dismissing care for the poor. He spent his entire ministry with the poor, the sick, the marginalized. He literally fed thousands and healed without charge.

But he's making a point about something deeper. Something we miss when we're obsessed with efficiency and practicality.

Mary understood something that Judas—and honestly, most of us—miss: God doesn't just want what's useful. He wants what's beautiful.

The God Who Designs Unnecessary Beauty

This isn't an isolated incident in Scripture. When you look at how God operates throughout the Bible, there's a consistent pattern of extravagance that challenges our productivity mindset.

Go back to Exodus, when God is giving Moses instructions for building the tabernacle. You'd think, "Okay, they're nomads wandering in the desert. Keep it simple. Tent. Altar. Done."

But instead, read Exodus chapters 25 through 31. It's seven full chapters of God giving incredibly detailed instructions about colors, fabrics, gold inlay, carved pomegranates, bells on the priest's robe, and the specific way to blend the incense.

Exodus 28:33-34 describes pomegranates and bells sewn onto the hem of the high priest's robe. The hem. The part that drags on the ground. Where literally no one will see them.

God could have said, "Blue robe. Next." But He didn't.

Why? Because apparently, God cares about beauty. Even unnecessary beauty. Especially unnecessary beauty.

What Our Obsession with Efficiency Reveals About Us

Can I be honest? This messes with my American evangelical pragmatism.

I grew up in a tradition that was suspicious of what we called "high church" elements. Liturgy? Too formal. Stained glass? Wasteful. Ornate cathedrals? Should have been hospitals instead.

And there's wisdom in not being wasteful with resources. Stewardship matters. But our obsession with usefulness actually reveals something about how we view God.

When everything has to be practical, when every dollar has to be justified, when worship has to produce measurable results... we're treating God like a business manager who needs a good ROI report.

But God doesn't work like that.

Creation Itself Is Extravagantly Impractical

Look at the natural world God created. He didn't make a utilitarian world where everything serves a survival function.

He made peacocks. Have you actually looked at a peacock? Those elaborate tail feathers are completely impractical. They actually make it harder to escape predators. They serve no survival purpose except to be beautiful.

He made sunsets. You don't need fourteen different shades of orange, pink, and purple for the sun to go down. Gray would work fine from a practical standpoint.

He made the platypus. A duck-billed, beaver-tailed, egg-laying mammal. Why? Because why not.

He made thousands of species of flowers that bloom in remote places where no human will ever see them. He put bioluminescent creatures in the deepest parts of the ocean. He designed butterfly wings with microscopic scales that create iridescent colors through light refraction rather than pigment.

God is an artist. And artists don't just make what's necessary. They make what's glorious.

The Future God Is Building: Extravagantly Beautiful

When you look at how the Bible describes our future—the New Jerusalem—it's not efficient. It's not practical.

Revelation 21:18-21 describes streets of pure gold, twelve foundations adorned with twelve different precious stones (jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, and amethyst), and gates made of single pearls.

That's not a city planning committee's recommendation for affordable housing. That's extravagance. That's beauty for beauty's sake.

Because apparently, when God makes the new creation, He doesn't just make it work. He makes it beautiful.

What Mary Understood That Night

So here's what Mary understood that night in Bethany, what the expensive perfume incident teaches us about worship:

Worship isn't a transaction. It's a response.

She wasn't trying to get something from Jesus. She wasn't calculating the return on investment of her sacrifice. She wasn't thinking, "If I give this, what will I receive?"

She just loved him. And love doesn't count the cost.

Love pours out. Love gives extravagantly. Love does things that make the accountants nervous and the pragmatists uncomfortable.

And Jesus—Jesus receives it. He doesn't scold her. He doesn't redirect her to a more practical investment strategy. He doesn't give her a lecture about fiscal responsibility.

He says, "She has done a beautiful thing to me." (Mark 14:6)

Beautiful. Not useful. Not efficient. Not practical. Beautiful.

The Scandal of Extravagant Worship in a Practical Age

We live in a culture that worships efficiency. We optimize everything. We track our time in 15-minute increments. We calculate the ROI on our relationships. We consume content at 2x speed because we don't have time for normal pace.

And then we bring that same mindset to our relationship with God.

We want our quiet time to be productive. We want our prayers to get results. We want our giving to be strategic. We want our worship to be impactful.

All of those things can be good. But when they become the only things, we've missed something essential about who God is.

God is not utilitarian. God is beautiful. And He wants us to respond to Him with beauty.

Practical Applications of Unnecessary Beauty

So what does this look like in real life? What does the ministry of unnecessary beauty look like for us today?

It might mean sitting in silence for an hour just being with God. Not praying through your list. Not reading for information. Not trying to get something from Him. Just being in His presence because He's worth it.

It might mean creating art that points to Him, even though "nobody will see it." Painting. Writing. Making music. Not for an audience. Not for your portfolio. Just as an offering.

It might mean going to a beautiful place—a garden, a mountain, the ocean—and spending time simply thanking Him for making beautiful things.

It might mean buying fresh flowers for your church because you want the space where God's people gather to reflect His glory, even if they'll wilt in a week.

It might mean writing someone a hand-written letter instead of a quick text, because the time and care reflect how valuable they are.

It might mean singing a worship song alone in your car with no one to impress and nothing to gain except the joy of expressing your love.

The point isn't the specific action. The point is learning to give God something that can't be justified on a spreadsheet. Something that makes no practical sense. Something beautiful.

God Doesn't Need Your Worship (But He Wants It)

Here's the truth that should blow your mind: God doesn't need anything from us.

The Creator of the universe, the One who spoke galaxies into existence, the One who holds all things together by the word of His power—He doesn't need your praise. He doesn't need your service. He doesn't need your money.

He's completely self-sufficient. Perfectly content within the eternal fellowship of the Trinity.

But here's what makes Christianity different from every other religion: He wants your worship anyway.

Not because He's needy. But because love desires to be expressed.

He wants you to pour out your love extravagantly. Unnecessarily. Beautifully.

Not because it accomplishes something. Not because it's efficient. Not because you'll get something in return.

But because love—real love—doesn't calculate. Love just gives.

The Prophecy Mary Didn't Know She Was Fulfilling

Jesus said Mary anointed Him for burial. She probably didn't fully understand what she was doing in that moment. She just knew she loved Him and wanted to honor Him.

But in that spontaneous act of worship, she was preparing His body for death. Within days, He would be crucified. And because of Jewish burial customs, there wouldn't be time for the normal anointing of His body before the Sabbath.

Mary's "wasteful" act turned out to be the only anointing Jesus received before His death.

Her extravagant love accomplished something she never intended. Not because she was trying to be strategic. But because when you love someone extravagantly, your love always accomplishes more than you know.

The Ministry of Unnecessary Beauty in Your Life

So here's my challenge to you: What's something extravagant you can do in worship this week?

What's something you can give to God that makes no practical sense? What's a way you can express your love that can't be justified on a cost-benefit analysis?

Maybe it's an hour you can't afford. Maybe it's money that seems impractical. Maybe it's creating something beautiful just for Him. Maybe it's a sacrifice that no one else will ever know about.

Because here's what I've discovered: When you start practicing the ministry of unnecessary beauty, something changes in you.

You stop seeing God as a cosmic vending machine who dispenses blessings in exchange for good behavior.

You stop treating prayer like a business meeting where you present your quarterly requests.

You stop viewing church as a service provider that needs to meet your needs efficiently.

Instead, you start to see worship for what it really is: a love relationship with the most beautiful Being in existence.

And in a love relationship, extravagance isn't wasteful. It's the whole point.

The Beauty That Changes Everything

Mary poured out everything she had in an act of pure devotion. The religious people criticized her. The practical people questioned her. The economists did the math and found her lacking.

But Jesus said it was beautiful.

And two thousand years later, we're still talking about it. Her "wasteful" act of worship is recorded in Scripture for all eternity. It's been painted by masters, written about by scholars, and pondered by millions.

Maybe that's what worship is supposed to be. Not efficient. Not productive. Not justified.

Just beautiful.

Because we serve a God who didn't create a utilitarian universe. He created a cosmos filled with unnecessary beauty.

And He invites us to join Him in that ministry—the ministry of unnecessary beauty.

The ministry of pomegranates on priestly robes that drag on the ground. The ministry of perfume poured out on feet. The ministry of worship that makes no practical sense but perfect love sense.

That's the kind of worship God receives. That's the kind of worship that reflects His character.

That's the kind of worship that changes everything.

An Invitation to go Deeper….

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OCT 14 | When God Cancels Your Plans: Finding Divine Appointments in Life's Interruptions