A Costly Act of Devotion 💔✨

Mark 14:1–11

Most of us are comfortable with devotion as long as it feels reasonable. 🙃

We are good with loving Jesus, following Him, and even giving to Him until that love starts to cost more than we expected.

Somewhere along the way, devotion crosses a quiet line.

It stops being admired and starts being questioned. 🤔

That is exactly the kind of moment Mark brings us into in Mark 14. One simple, silent act of love toward Jesus ends up revealing what everyone in the room really believes He is worth.

Devotion in the Shadow of the Cross ✝️

Mark tells us this scene takes place just two days before Passover. That detail matters. Passover always pointed to deliverance through death, and now the true Lamb is only days away from the cross.

While the religious leaders are quietly planning how to kill Jesus, something very different is happening in a small room in Bethany. 🕯️

A woman enters carrying an alabaster box filled with spikenard, very precious. Mark does not tell us her name. He gives no background and no explanation. The focus is not on who she is, but on what she does.

She breaks the box and pours the ointment on Jesus’ head.

And notice the setting. Jesus is sitting at a meal. Nothing dramatic. Nothing urgent. Just an ordinary moment. And right there, in the middle of everyday life, costly devotion steps forward.

She does not wait for a better time. She recognizes the moment she has. ⏳

Devotion does not lose its value just because the moment is dark. If love for Jesus waits for ideal conditions, it will almost never be offered. The cross itself reminds us that love given in hard moments is never wasted. 💔➡️❤️

When Devotion Looks Like Waste 💸

The reaction in the room is immediate. Mark tells us some were filled with indignation. This is not polite disagreement. It is moral offense.

They call her act a waste.

That word tells us how they are thinking. To them, devotion only makes sense if it can be calculated, explained, and defended.

Mark pauses to tell us the cost. More than three hundred pence, nearly a year’s wages. And once the alabaster box is broken, there is no saving some for later. This is total, irreversible giving.

Then the criticism turns spiritual.

“This could have been given to the poor.”

Caring for the poor is good. It is biblical. But here, a good cause is used to dismiss wholehearted devotion. Sometimes what sounds spiritual is actually resistance to surrender. 😶‍🌫️

What someone calls waste usually tells you what they value. When love for Jesus is measured by efficiency, devotion will always seem excessive. And if Jesus is not worth much to someone, any sacrifice will feel like too much.

Jesus Decides What Is Beautiful 👑

Jesus steps in and changes the tone of the room.

“Let her alone.”

He does not allow the crowd to have the final word. He places Himself between the woman and her critics.

What they call waste, Jesus calls a good work, a beautiful thing. 💐

The value of devotion is not determined by public approval or practical results, but by the worth of the One receiving it.

Then Jesus goes even deeper. He connects her act to His burial. Whether she fully understands it or not, her love is aligned with the redemptive work of the cross.

And then Jesus lifts her act beyond that room and into history. Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be remembered.

This was not wasted devotion.

It was devotion woven into the gospel story itself. 🌍📖

If devotion has to be approved by others before it counts, worship turns into performance. In this passage, the crowd is loud, but Jesus is right. And in the end, His word is the one that matters most.

Devotion That Reveals the Heart 🧭

Right after Jesus honors the woman, Mark shifts our attention to Judas.

While devotion draws one person closer to Jesus, it drives another away. Judas leaves the room and goes to the chief priests.

They are glad to see him. They promise him money. The contrast could not be clearer. One person pours everything out at the feet of Jesus. Another begins negotiating a price. 💰

Mark tells us Judas looks for a convenient way to betray Him. It sounds reasonable. It feels calculated. But it is still betrayal.

The same moment that reveals beautiful devotion also exposes a heart that values control and profit over worship.

By the end of the passage, everyone has responded to Jesus. Some with costly devotion. Others with quiet calculation. No one remains neutral.

Why This Still Matters Today ❤️

Across the centuries, the church has not been shaped mainly by loud movements or public applause. It has been shaped by ordinary believers who quietly gave themselves fully to Christ.

They prayed when prayer was costly.

They obeyed when obedience carried risk.

They worshiped when no one was watching.

Their devotion was not always understood. It was rarely celebrated. But it endured. 🌱

Mark shows us that costly devotion steps forward in the shadow of the cross, is often misunderstood by others, and is ultimately defined and defended by Jesus Himself. And in the end, our response to Him reveals what we truly believe He is worth.

The truth is, none of us would ever choose costly devotion to Jesus unless we first see what He has done for us. Before anyone poured anything out for Him, He poured Himself out for us. He went to the cross willingly, bearing our sin and our judgment in our place.

And now He invites us to come, not with gifts in our hands, but with empty hands. 🙏

To repent.

To believe.

To receive the forgiveness and new life He freely gives.

And for those who already belong to Him, the call is just as clear. Not to earn His love, but to respond to it with a life of costly devotion, trusting that nothing given to Jesus is ever wasted. 💝

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