Within our sensibilities, we know that extravagance is wrong.

That's why there w as a public outrage the a scoop came out that the President with other governmen t officials spent around $20,000 for a dinner. I think I am even more sensitive to extravagance because I live in Region 1 -- t he Ilocos Region. (Alam naman ninyong may reputasyon tayo dito bilang mga kuripo t pagdating sa gastusan). But I must go with historian Teodoro Agoncillo that we just earn our money the hard way because of the condition of our agricultural l ands. So I think even non-Ilocanos who earn their money the hard way can symphat ize with me when I say that I don't understand people who spend fortunes collect ing stuff such as shoes, bags or Barbie dolls. In he ge ch es the Bible, extravagance is usually presented as an ugly thing. God requires t king not to acquire for himself a great number of horses or to accumulate lar amounts of silver and gold (Deuteronomy 17:16-17). And in the story of the Ri man and Lazarus, the rich man who went to Hades at death wore expensive cloth of purple and linen and spent lavishly for daily feasting.

What has drwan me to this text is because there is an unusual twist here: Extrav agance is called a beautiful thing. Caring for the poor is even seen as a lesser priority below this type of extravagance. The event took place less than a week before the crucifixion. A dinner was held in the house of Simon- a man who recovered from leprosy. A controversy arose bec ause a woman approached Jesus with an alabaster flask of expensive perfume (prob ably imported because it is native to India). From Mark's account, we know that it is worth a year's wages. The woman broke the thin neck of the bottle and she poured it's contents on Jesu s'head. It's volume is considerable because it flowed to cover Jesus' body also. Matthew records: "When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this wa ste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the mon ey given to the (Matthew 26:8-9). Jesus answered: ""Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thi ng to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have m e. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. " There are any other things that could be pointed out in this account like the si gnificance of the perfume in Jesus' coming burial (verse 12) and the promise tha t her story will be remembered wherever the gospel is proclaimed. But I will jus t focus on one aspect. This type of extravagance was commended because it was not done to feed te ego o r satisfy the flesh. It was done out of devotion to Jesus. An extravagance that recognizes the greatness of our Lord is beautiful. He deserves our all. he deser ves out best. Anyway, he owns all things and all these things were created by hi m and for him (Psalm 24:1; Col. 1:16. Nothing we possess is too costly to be dis posed for his sake.