While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
Matthew 26:6-8, 10 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.26.8-10.NIV
When we pour out our lives on Jesus' feet, with no regard to cost or humiliation; when people see what we give up and what it gains us, they may say "what a waste!" And/or "I could have used that, don't you care about me?"
This ridicule didn't come from outsiders, but from Jesus' disciples. Sometimes, it's fellow Christians--the ones who ought to be encouraging us and spurring us closer to Jesus--who will tell us to back off in our passion and put it to use elsewhere. But Jesus came to her defence. He didn't think it was a waste. He didn't think the poor could use it more than he could. He accepted her gift and called it beautiful.
There's a couple things I get from this:
1. Give Jesus the best of everything you have. Don't save him until last, but put him first. People may be slighted because they're selfish and they want you to put them first just like they have. But anyone else who has put Jesus first will tell you he's worth it.
2. Nothing you give Jesus will go unnoticed or unappreciated. He won't think there was any better place for it. He will call it beautiful, and will defend you against anyone who says otherwise.
3. I don't ever want to be the sister who tells someone to put their offering somewhere else. I don't ever want to be the one who ridicules a fellow Christian for their passion for Jesus when it's burning at it's hottest. I want to be the one to fan the flame. I want to be the their second best defender against such people.
4. Ridicule has two roots in this story: selfishness and guilt. We ridicule someone's gift either because we wanted the gift for ourselves, or because we're covering up the shame we carry because we weren't willing to give the same gift.
If someone gives God time, and you wanted them to give that time to you, that's when you become "indignant".
And if God calls you to give you some of your time, and you don't say yes, you're much more likely to notice when someone else does. And when you see them do it, you're convicted (and therefore uncomfortable) so you want to put a stop to it by embarrassing the other person into silence.
In order to not respond with selfishness when someone gives something to God, we have to have given up any claim we had on it.
And in order to not respond out of our guilt or conviction, we should humble ourselves, repent, and follow their example by being obedient.
If we're to respond properly to anyone who gives their best to God, we have to have already done the same thing. And when everyone in the Church has given God their best--when they have put him first in their lives--he will then have first place in the whole Church. He will be it's head, as he should.
