I once saw a documentary about volcanoes. The only thing I remember is the
picture of a very wealthy man throwing his super-expensive wristwatch
into Kīlauea, the active volcano on the big island of Hawaii. The voice-over said the man was trying to appease the gods. A quick Internet search tells me that expensive watches can sell for many thousands of dollars. That’s a lot of money to convert to molten lava.
Now I’m a Timex kind of guy, so I don’t imagine I’d do a lot of appeasing by throwing my $37 digital into the flames. I don't have any hope that my cheapo Indiglo would appease even a couple low-level transgressions. And nobody has a watch expensive enough to take care of the true weight of my sins.
Anyhow, I was reading the New Testament story about Mary, Lazarus’ sister, who anointed Jesus with costly nard ointment (see John 12:1-8). Judas, who resented this “waste” of resources, appraised the value of the perfume at 300 denarii--about a year’s wages (v. 5).
So I was thinking--what’s the difference between a man who throws a $20,000 wristwatch into the volcano to try atoning for his sins, and a woman who pours out a year’s wages worth of ointment to anoint the Savior? Both seemed to be extravagant or wasteful, depending upon your point of view. Both did so for spiritual reasons.
But there is a very big difference. The volcano sacrifice was an attempt to appease an angry god. The perfume sacrifice was an attempt to worship a suffering Savior. The wristwatch was meant to pay for sins. The ointment was meant to say thanks for sins' payment. The man in Hawaii threw his watch into the flames out of desperate fear. The woman in Bethany poured her perfume onto the Savior out of extravagant love.
Nothing we sacrifice is enough to atone for our sins; we have broken the Law of the God and offended His holy character. The only atonement that would work is if He hurled Himself into the volcano. And that’s what He did. The volcano’s name is Golgotha.
The value of Jesus’ sacrifice is infinitely precious. So much so that by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 11:14). We can never repay Him. But we can spill out the best we have, for the rest of our lives, to tell Him how much we love Him.
