She has done what she could and she has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.

—Mark 14:8

As I read the Bible, I can’t help but notice how little is said about the great empires in Jesus’ day. We would think there would be more in the Bible about the Caesars or the great conquests of Rome. But it’s interesting to me what God did.

In Matthew 26, we find a memorial we should never forget, an incredible, sacrificial thing someone did for Jesus: “Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head” (verses 6–7).

With His disciples watching in amazement, Mary broke open this expensive ointment and anointed Jesus’ head with complete abandon. It didn’t matter to her what their opinions were. All she knew was this was her Lord.

Did Mary fully comprehend what lay ahead? Did she realize Jesus would die on a cross? I’m not sure. But she seemed to know more than the rest of them. She seemed to recognize that He needed to be anointed for His burial. So she gave her all.

Many people today will give only what is required by God. They don’t want to go overboard. They don’t want to be extreme or fanatical, so they give God the bare minimum. Maybe this is one of the reasons we don’t see the work of God today on quite the same scale as they saw it back in the early church. As modeled by Mary, there was a complete abandon with these first-century disciples. They were willing to take risks. They were willing to do what they could.