Witnesses: The Sin of Sensible Religion

Two days before Jesus’ crucifixion, an unnamed woman crashes a dinner party, breaks open a jar worth a year’s wages, and anoints Jesus while the disciples call it waste. In this message from Robyn Elliott, we step into the story as witnesses and ask: Are we offering costly love, or hiding hard hearts behind responsible religion? Because love that costs you something is never wasted, and sometimes reckless devotion is the only thing in the room that looks like the cross. Discussion Questions: 1. When you hear Jesus say, “She has done what she could,” what emotions surface in you? Comfort? Conviction? Resistance? Why? 2. Where in your life have you traded costly devotion for comfortable routine? 3. The disciples called the woman’s act wasteful. Have you ever labeled someone’s devotion as impractical or irresponsible? What was underneath that reaction? 4. What is your “alabaster jar?” What feels too costly to break open? 5. In what ways is it possible to hide a hard heart behind a good cause? Where do you see that in your everyday life, in your church, your family, your place of work, or even in your government? 6. Where might Jesus be inviting you to move from speaking about justice to practicing solidarity? 7. If you were physically in that room, how do you honestly think you would have responded? Who would you identify with most? 8. What does “doing what you can with what you have” look like for you in this season?