March 18, 2026 Midweek News
While making banana bread last week, I was working too fast and accidentally dropped an egg on the floor. “That was expensive!” I thought. In our scripture from last Sunday, an unnamed woman anointed Jesus with expensive spikenard perfume oil, and the disciples got angry, saying “Hey! That’s expensive stuff you’re wasting!”
As we continue to place ourselves in the stories of Holy Week and enter the passion with Jesus, we ask ourselves “what would I have done had I been with Jesus?” We live in a world of budgets, resources, and “practicality,” yet faith isn’t always practical. Sometimes, God calls us to a “wasteful” kind of generosity—the kind that spends a year’s wages on a single moment of love.
When has your heart pulled you toward a “non-practical” act of love or generosity, even when the world – or your own internal monologue – called it a waste?
Pray with me this week:
Gracious God, in a world that demands we account for every penny and every minute, help us to remember the unnamed woman with the alabaster jar. When we are tempted to scold others—or ourselves—for being ‘wasteful’ with our love, remind us that faith isn’t always practical. Break open our hearts like that jar, so that the fragrance of your grace might fill us, leading us to a deeper understanding of your abundant generosity.
Lenten blessings,
Pastor Jared