The Last Supper
This perfume could have been sold at a high price, and the money given to the poor.” Matthew 26:9 · Berean Standard Bible
They protest that the perfume could have been sold for a lot of money and given to the poor. It sounds reasonable, but they are missing something.
Helping the poor is genuinely important — but sometimes worship calls for extravagance that defies practical logic.
The disciples press their case, convinced that charity would have been the better use of this perfume.
You can almost hear the frustration in their voices. But Jesus is about to show them that there are moments when nothing less than everything will do.
The disciples quantify the waste in economic terms, arguing the perfume's high sale price (polytimou) could have funded charitable giving to the poor (ptochois).
Mark 14:5 specifies the value as over 300 denarii — roughly a year's wages for a laborer — making the disciples' objection financially rational if spiritually tone-deaf.
The disciples articulate their objection in utilitarian terms.
Their argument sounds reasonable on the surface — charity over luxury — but it masks a fundamental misunderstanding of what this moment requires.
7a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He reclined at the table.
8When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and asked, “Why this waste?
9This perfume could have been sold at a high price, and the money given to the poor.”
10Aware of this, Jesus asked, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful deed to Me.
11The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.
Read all of Matthew 26 — Bread broken. Wine poured. A betrayal predicted. The longest night in history begins around a table.
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