Mark 14:6
Have you ever seen something just so beautiful it takes your breath away? Some jaw-dropping landscape, a member of the other sex, some art piece, etc..
Ever wonder what God finds beautiful?
This passage in Mark, I believe, is one of the only times Jesus that describes something as “beautiful”. This account is no other than the anointing of Jesus at Bethany, where an unnamed woman takes a very expensive flask ointment and anoints Jesus.
As others disdain her for her actions, Jesus rebukes them and he accepts her act of love and honor. What others saw was waste; what Jesus sees is a “beautiful thing”.
From this passage, I glean that Jesus finds extravagant displays of love for God as beautiful. He finds that when the human heart turns towards what it was designed to love, that is a beautiful. And what the human heart was designed to love and to be fascinated by was the Maker of Heaven.
Jesus finds our sacrificial love towards him as utterly beautiful. He cares not for the forest, the mountains, the art of his creation–what moves him most is the human heart in love with him.
Lord, let my life be a beautiful display for you. Let me pour out my love for you lavishly. Let me be like the woman at Bethany who is willing to pour out her love for you so generously. Let me be poured our and emptied out as a response to your great love for me. Let me live an abandoned life of love for you Jesus.
