Hi friends,
This Wednesday, I shared a devotional with a men’s ministry in the Atlanta area. Given the context, the devotional focused on how Jesus engaged with the questions of the marketplace — even in his last week before the crucifixion.
I’ve slightly updated the talk for our community.
Introduction
As we prepare for Good Friday and Easter Sunday this weekend, we are looking at events from Jesus’ final week before his crucifixion. And we’re especially looking at how either Jesus or business leaders engaged with questions about work and money.
Let’s start with some easy questions:
First, how important is profit to your marketplace witness?
Can you run a good business if you don’t make a profit?
What happens if you waste money on unnecessary projects?
If you do something that is motivated by love - but it has a negative ROI - how do your investors evaluate that decision?
It’s complex, right?
Think about Uber. From 2014 to 2022, the company lost almost 32 billion dollars. But in 2023, it finally had over a billion dollars in profit.
Was that a good investment? The market says the company is worth 154 billion! Is the market right? I guess we’ll find out! And just to put it out there, if anyone wants to entrust me with 32 billion dollars, I believe I can return one billion dollars to you eight or nine years from now!
But one more question, on a more personal note:
Have you ever tried to mentor someone, given them a lot of your time and attention, sent them to conferences, and it just didn’t work out? You had to let them go, and everyone wondered why you wasted so much energy and money on a low performer?
The Passage
Just two days before he was crucified, Jesus addressed this same tension. Even though we live in a modern, capitalistic society, humans have always struggled with whether or not the dollar - or the shekel - was king.
If you’ve got your Bible, turn to Matthew 26:6.
For the sake of time, I’m going to summarize the story that Matthew the tax collector shares with us. He’s writing about an event that took place on April 1, A.D. 33.
Jesus is enjoying a meal at the home of Simon in Bethany, a small town about two miles from Jerusalem. During a major festival like Passover, it would be hard to find somewhere to stay in Jerusalem, and Jesus had good friends in Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, who lived in Bethany. In other words, from a historical perspective, this story makes sense.
To everyone’s surprise, during the meal, a woman breaks a jar of extremely expensive perfume and pours it all on Jesus’ head. By extremely expensive, I mean that the perfume was worth an entire year’s wages.
So, you just did your taxes. How much money did you make last year? Would you spend $50,000, $100,000, even $200,000 on a single bottle of perfume?
Imagine if you gave your wife a $100,000 bottle of perfume, and one night, she used all of it.
What would be your reaction?
You’d be horrified. Outraged. Upset. How could you?!?
You would question all of your life choices that led up to that moment.
This is the same reaction that everyone had at Simon’s house.
In fact, some of the disciples said it would be better to sell the perfume and give the money to the poor.
Now, let me ask you this: have you ever considered spending your entire annual salary on a gift to the poor?
The woman’s act of devotion to Jesus was so extreme that it made a major impact on everyone who witnessed it. Imagine the amazing, wonderful, beautiful aroma that filled this previously stinky house.
The smell of dirty feet, human waste, rotting food, all the sweat from the hot day - in a moment, it all vanished, and the room was filled with the most beautiful scent they’d ever experienced.
But instead of appreciating the woman’s worship of Jesus, they criticized her as wasteful, immoral, and foolish.
Well, it didn’t take any supernatural knowledge for Jesus to see what was going on.
But what’s surprising is, he honors the woman, and rebukes the disciples. He says, you are all spiritually blind. The only person who understands what’s going on is this woman. She made an extravagant sacrifice to prepare me for my burial.
Then, in a moment of incredible irony, Judas goes out to betray Jesus. He goes to the chief priests to negotiate a price for betraying Jesus. For a mere thirty pieces of silver, or about 3-4 months of work, Judas was willing to help Jesus be killed.
Application for Business Leaders
So, what’s the point of this passage for our lives, today?
First, let’s be clear: Jesus isn’t dismissing the importance of caring for the poor—check out Matthew 25:31-46, which comes right before this story, to see what Jesus thinks about the poor and the oppressed.
So, if we take away from this passage, Jesus loves good perfume more than caring for the poor, we’ve really misunderstood it!
But the point comes into focus when we look at the other main character in this event: Judas.
Judas managed the money for the disciples. To be anachronistic about it, he was the CFO. And when the CFO saw Jesus celebrating the waste of money, he wanted to get Jesus fired.
I mean, a woman just wasted a year’s salary! For Judas, this settled the matter: Jesus is not the Messiah. We need to get rid of him.
The problem is, Judas brought the market mindset to his faith: efficiency, profit, ROI.
And with that mindset, he turned himself against Jesus. Now, the very name Judas is in the dictionary as the landmark definition of betrayal.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer: This unnamed, humble woman poured out extravagant love on Jesus; another sold Jesus to the highest bidder.
As you go into work today, is the demand for efficiency leading you to devalue people?
Is the pressure to get results this quarter keeping you from doing what is right?
Does the focus on the bottom line mean you no longer prioritize deeper meaning and impact?
Do you relate to Jesus as a businessman - or can you be like this woman?
Is it a transaction, where you give God prayer and Bible study and church attendance, and you expect him to give you financial prosperity, good health, and blessings?
Do you serve when it is convenient and fits your schedule?
Here’s the question we have to ask:
Jesus gave his life for us on the cross.
Jesus gave his life for us on the cross.
What would it look like to pour out not just a year’s wages - but your entire life to God - in wholehearted worship?
Jesus called what this woman did a “noble thing”—literally a “beautiful work.” Beauty isn’t practical. It isn’t efficient. It’s often extravagant. Yet it speaks to something deep in our souls.
The woman’s act looks wasteful by worldly standards. But in God’s economy, nothing offered in genuine love is ever wasted.
The most meaningful investments we make will often look wasteful to others.
Spending time mentoring someone who might leave your company.
Pursuing a business model that prioritizes people over maximum profit.
Making choices that honor God even when they seem to limit short-term gain.
Because Jesus sees these acts differently. He calls them beautiful.
That’s the most important point. As great as this woman was, the beauty of the gospel is that Jesus poured himself out completely for us. His sacrifice was the most “wasteful” act in history—the perfect Son of God dying for broken people - like you and me - who don’t deserve it.
Yet through this apparent waste came our salvation.
The fragrant scent of his loving sacrifice … fills our life with joy.
Can you smell this woman’s perfume? If you can, it will change your life.
Let’s pray:
God, forgive us for the times we’ve approached you and others with calculated hearts. Thank you for this woman’s example of extravagant love. Help us recognize the surpassing value of knowing you. Give us the courage to pour ourselves out in beautiful acts of worship, even when others don’t understand. Jesus, thank you for pouring out your life - completely - for us. May we respond with wholehearted love and obedience. In Christ’s name, Amen.
One sentence summary:
"Because God made a beautiful sacrifice for me, my life will be a beautiful sacrifice for God.”