"Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came to Him a woman having an alabaster head, box of very precious ointment, and poured it upon his as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, To what purpose was this waste? For this might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. But Jesus, knowing it, said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman ? for she hath done me a good deed :for ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in pouring out this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her" (Matt. 26:6-13).

In sharpest contrast we see here the love that pours out its precious ointment upon the Lord, and the murmuring of the disciples, prompted, as we are elsewhere told, by one who could sell the Lord Himself for the price of a slave. The last finds its occasion in the first, love rousing and developing its awful opposite in the soul of this unhappy man, whom the defeat of his earthly ambitions and carnal hopes had already set in antagonism. He had begun to compensate himself, as best he could, with the contents of the common bag which carried all the means of subsistence of the little company. That pitiful compensation was coming to an end. Clearer sighted in his unbelief than his companions in their faith, he could understand the intimations, constantly now coming, of his Master's death. The enmity of the leaders of the people was too plain to need much 'other prophecy of what was to be. It might not come to that:at the end we find him possessed with the hope that it would not. Still he needed to make his escape from this ruined cause, and carry with him also what he could secure. The price of this ointment might well be coveted by one in such a position, and he breaks out openly with this complaint:"To what purpose is this waste ?"

She, too, who has come there with her ointment, has realized as those around Him have not yet, the death that is now drawn so near Him. But the effect is only, if possible, to make Him more absorbingly the object for her heart, and whatever is precious for her goes into death with Him. Her use of the ointment testifies of this, as well as of the fragrance of the death itself, which will abide with us for eternity, and in which we too abide, and shall abide, in the sweet savor of this wonderful obedience.

Even true disciples are caught by the cry of utilitarianism that which is spent upon Christ alone is "waste," and taken from the poor; and such pleas become for many effectual arguments against what true devotedness to Him demands. Those who would understand and appreciate the laying down of life for His sake, can often not understand the sacrifice of usefulness on His account, even though the demand come in the way of duty. They will say, indeed, that duty cannot really demand such sacrifice; but it does very often demand that we leave entirely out of question all consideration of results, and follow simply and without reserve the dictates of the Word. And it is certainly true that the thought of usefulness governs often disastrously even the interpretation of the word of God itself.

Results are never safe as guidance for our path, and this for at least two plain reasons. First, because they must follow the action, and therefore come too late to determine it; and secondly, if it be thought that we can profit by the experience of others, so many things combine to produce them that we are constantly in danger of mistaking the real cause. Of course, if God's word has spoken decisively, even in the least particular, then all consideration of results is mere unfaithfulness.
The Lord openly vindicates the act of-the woman. This devotedness shows itself at the right time to refresh His true human heart, afflicted with the treachery of Judas, and now in near prospect of the cross. She had manifested an appreciative love which those around Him were unable even to enter into, and He declares that wherever His gospel shall be preached among men, this deed of her's shall be told as a memorial of her. It may well be a corrective of that tendency of utilitarianism to invade the gospel itself, to the great harm and loss of souls ; and this is not unapt to be where salvation is freely preached, but more as a boon to man than a cost to God. Thus Christ is little known, little followed:to have salvation is to have all that the heart craves; yet it is not really satisfied thus, and the world comes in to fill the vacuum.

-From Numerical Bible on Matthew, pp. 244, 6.