Two Days

Eleanor Becker
Apr 18, 2019
3 min read

He said it. He told them in so many words that He was going to die. In two days. By crucifixion.

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.” Matt 26:1-2. NKJV

Did they think it was a lie? Surely not. Why then did they not understand or respond accordingly? Did they not know by then that His words never fail to come to pass?

There was one person who discerned well—the one with the outlandish response.

She reached for the most valuable substance she could, an alabaster flask with costly oil, and poured it over Jesus. She discerned precisely what was going on and filled the room with a fragrance probably not fit for the house of a leper—one more irony of the life of Jesus ...

He was anointed like a king but about to die as a criminal. He was to hang on a cross and bleed so those who deserve it could go free. He hungered in the desert so the starved could eat the Bread of Life. He had no place to sleep but prepared a place for all strangers to belong. He cast out demons but was called one. He was sold out for thirty pieces of silver like a slave but redeemed the world so all could be free.

But when the 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.” Matt 26:8-9 NKJV

The disciples, His own disciples, the ones who knew Him best, reprimanded her. In what world were they living? How could they not have grasped the weight of the moment? How could the same people have heard the same words yet responded so differently? Jesus said “two days!”

They were indignant—so close to Jesus yet so far from His heart. They were mad at the woman for such an utter waste of expensive oil. Instead, sell it and feed the poor, why not do the right thing, the good thing, the thing that was decided in the last finance meeting? They were infuriated and devalued her, but I suspect that she didn’t care. She was in the moment, a holy moment, a once in a lifetime moment.

She heard, and she was moved.

It’s easy to judge the disciples like they judged the woman. What would I have done if I were there? Would I have even entered a leper’s house? Would I have looked for Jesus in the company of a bunch of misfits? The disciples at least thought about the poor. It was good, but they missed the weight of the hour and moment.

“Why do you trouble the woman?” Matt 26:10 NKJV

They troubled her while she worshiped her King with reckless devotion. To this humble in-love-with-Jesus woman it was a personal moment of total abandonment of all else that used to matter to her. She saw Jesus on the cross in her mind’s eye and while she had the chance, gave Him her all.

Did she know she was anointing Jesus for His burial, possibly because dead criminals were not anointed and embalmed but rather heaped in graves with other executed prisoners? Did she make a list of “what ifs” first? Was it appropriate to anoint a live person for His death? Did she really know what she was doing?

All she heard was, “two days.” Jesus was about to be killed in two days. Crucified! She had nothing to lose but all to gain in her one last moment with Jesus.

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. Matt 26:13 NKJV

I see humility and royalty, a lost moment and a fully captured opportunity, oblivious followers and a merciful Savior, imminent death in the midst of outlandish fragrance, hopelessness in the presence of Redemption, a dark night before the Son rises, a crown of thorns on an anointed head, beautiful feet about to be forever scarred, loving hands destined to grab a dirty cross … I see a man now sitting at the right hand of God.

Jesus said what this woman did will be remembered, so let us ponder how she had a heart so wholly sold out for Jesus that when she heard His words, they took complete preeminence over earthly values and ways. Jesus only. It was to Jesus only she was devoted.

And you?

You don’t have to be somebody to be somebody to Jesus.

What you pour out on Jesus Christ is never a waste.

Earth cannot fully understand heaven.

Jesus walked where we should have, so we can walk where He leads.