"What She Could"

It wasn’t the last supper,

That Jesus had that week,

But could have been the next to last,

When a woman came to seek,

The moment when she broke the box,

That held some perfume sweet,

Poured it out upon His head,

And then she bathed his feet,

With tears that came because she knew,

He was going soon to die,

And she prepared his body,

And that’s what made her cry.

The others thought it was a waste,

But He said let her be,

She has done all that she could,

And did it just for Me.

And everywhere the Good News goes,

What she did goes there, too,

Always to remember her,

What she came that night to do.

The beauty of her simple act,

A sacrifice of praise,

Done in spite of ridicule,

On one of His last days.

I wonder if that perfume strong,

Still lingered in His hair,

When He hung upon the cross,

The whole time He was there,

To remind the Son of God,

Some sure loved Him so,

Knew that He laid down His life,

For us God’s love to show.

“She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.” (Mark 14:8-9, NAS)

In Mark’s gospel the woman who interrupted the next to the last supper was unnamed. Still, Jesus said that what she did would always be remembered everywhere His story was told in all the world. Only Jesus approved of what she did, the rest criticized her. What she did was sacrificial because the perfume was expensive, worth a whole year’s wage. What she did was all about Jesus and His coming death, which the others seemed not to expect. For all these reasons and probably more Jesus said she would be remembered. Perhaps, however, it was because she did what she could. That may be the most important thing about it.

Lord, help us to do what we can, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Ann Hanson, used by permission. Thanks, Ann, and God bless you.