A Good Work

In the Church’s Holy Week Study Experience, day 4 focuses on the story of the woman who anointed the Savior with costly ointment. Mark recorded, “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.” When others were critical of “this waste,” suggesting that it could have been sold for 300 pence, the Savior responded, “Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me” (Mark 14:3-6). The scripture help for this passage comments, “She broke an alabaster jar, sacrificing both a valuable vessel and all its contents. The ointment was pure spikenard, an expensive perfume imported from the Himalayan mountains. The perfume was worth over 300 pence (about a year’s worth of pay for the average laborer).” Understanding that she spent a year’s worth of money on this single event helps us understand why other disciples were critical of her action. It is fascinating to me that this ointment came from the Himalayan mountains. The Himalayas contain some of the highest mountain peaks on earth, including Mount Everest. It was also very far from Jerusalem, and so this ointment had traveled thousands of miles to reach Him where it could be used to anoint His body before His burial. This woman took the very best, most expensive, most well-traveled anointment from one of the highest places on earth in order to honor the Son of God who would soon offer His life for all mankind. Her story should inspire all of us to give the best we have for the Lord, no matter how meager we feel that it is.

               The Savior said this of the woman who anointed His head: “She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her” (Mark 14:8-9). One of the ways in which her sacrifice was worth far more than the money she gave up for the ointment was that the story has inspired countless believers to remember and honor the Savior, just as He predicted. Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Hill Cumorah. As I consider Joseph’s experiences there, I always chuckle at the fact that there were so many who didn’t believe anything Joseph said except that he had gold plates. And they desperately sought to obtain those plates from him because they wanted the gold. Even decades later people who did not believe in Joseph Smith or his message were still digging up the hill looking for gold. They did not understand that the value of the plates was not in the gold! Moroni had written, “And I am the same who hideth up this record unto the Lord; the plates thereof are of no worth, because of the commandment of the Lord. For he truly saith that no one shall have them to get gain; but the record thereof is of great worth; and whoso shall bring it to light, him will the Lord bless” (Mormon 8:14). The world would have us express the value of all things in terms of money: the woman’s spikenard was seen as 300 pence, the gold plates were seen as a source of riches, and today our time is often described based on the dollar per hour wage we earn. But in reality, what really matters usually cannot be put in financial terms. To the Lord, there are things of far more value than money, and one of those is to do His work. Joseph did not keep the gold plates but did bring the record to light which is truly of “great worth.” The woman who anointed Jesus traded her money for something of far greater value: an opportunity to honor the Savior. Both of the stories invite us to not reduce everything in the world to its monetary value and to instead to strive to honor the Savior by doing whatever “good work” we can through our own feeble means.