Doing a Good Deed is Never a Waste

“While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon, the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard, and she broke the vial and poured it over His head.  But some were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.”  And they were scolding her.

But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her?  She has done a good deed to Me.  For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.  She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.”

Mark 14:3-8

Jesus appreciated the actions of the woman who anointed Him with the perfume.  It is hard for us to imagine that the Son of God was in need of comfort.  Yet, Jesus quieted critics and proclaimed that the woman had "done a good deed for Him.” 

We need to keep this in mind when we hear people criticizing programs which help needy people.  It is not their place to judge needy people or to judge the people who offer help.  Giving is the business of the giver and the receiver and nobody else. 

Those who fail to understand this need to think about being more merciful.

Doing a good deed is never a waste.