Jesus Is Worth More Than Safety

Just days before Jesus walked the lonely road to Calvary, a woman stepped into a room, carrying a costly alabaster flask filled with fragrant oil. Without hesitation, she poured the ointment over His head. In that moment, as His disciples looked on in dismay, the fragrance of her sacrifice filled the room and the future.

“Why this waste?” they asked (Matthew 26:8). To them, her act was excessive, irrational, impractical. But to Jesus, it was beautiful. “She has done a beautiful thing to me,” He said (Matthew 26:10). Her devotion spoke volumes, especially as Jesus knew His own body would soon be broken, His head crowned with thorns, His life poured out for the world.

This passage isn’t just about perfume. It’s about purpose. It’s a call to extravagant love that defies worldly logic and dares to look foolish in the eyes of comfort-loving onlookers. It’s the same love that compels missionaries to go where they may never return, to risk not just reputation but life, for the sake of Christ.

A Trail Marked by Blood and Hope

From the earliest days of the church, suffering has never been an afterthought it has been the very soil in which the gospel grows. Tertullian, writing in the second century, famously declared, “The blood of the martyrs is seed.” This wasn’t poetic exaggeration. It was a defiant truth aimed at Rome’s persecutors: kill us, and we will multiply.

Christian history proves him right. From the catacombs beneath Rome to the villages of China, the gospel has advanced not by avoidance of suffering, but through it. The early church spread across the Roman Empire in spite of sword and fire, and in the 21st century, the story hasn’t changed.

Wang Yi, a Chinese pastor imprisoned for his faith, put it this way: “People can be chained, but the gospel cannot be chained” (2 Timothy 2:9). His courage echoes through bars and across borders, a reminder that the path of the cross is still being walked, and Jesus still leads the way.

The Illusion of Safety

We often think danger is “over there.” But safety, as we define it, is an illusion. The leading cause of accidental death for Americans and expatriates alike isn’t persecution or war it’s car accidents. Whether in a remote village or a suburban commute, life is fragile. The difference is not the risk, but the mission.

Edith Searell, martyred during the Boxer Rebellion in China, wrote shortly before her death, “From the point of view of those whose lives are hid with Christ in God, all are equally safe.” Her words challenge us to reevaluate our definitions. Safety is not the absence of threat; it is the presence of God. For those who belong to Christ, there is no safer place than in the center of His will even when that will leads through the valley of the shadow of death.

A Gospel Worth Everything

The modern mind often struggles with the concept of sacrificial missions. It asks, “Why go?” or “Why stay when you could come home?” Yet for those gripped by the glory of Christ, the better question is, “How could we not?”

When missionary James Perry was killed in Turkey by those he came to serve, his grave marker read He was killed by those he came to serve. They knew not what they did. That solitary line, etched into stone, resounds with the heartbeat of the gospel Jesus laid down His life for those who didn’t understand, who didn’t appreciate, who even opposed Him. So do His followers.

We rightly grieve the loss of missionaries like Cheryl, killed in Afghanistan while on a medical outreach. But her life and death were not in vain. In one of her last letters, she wrote humbly, “I don’t feel like I have anything profound to say this month. But my cup runs over all the same.” That simple statement captures the essence of true gospel service not driven by grandeur, but by daily, ordinary faithfulness.

Love That Pours Itself Out

The woman with the alabaster flask didn’t wait for a perfect moment. She acted in love, in faith, in urgency. She knew Jesus was worth it. Her story, enshrined forever in Scripture, reminds us that the call to follow Christ is a call to pour out, not hold back.

God still honors the fragrant sacrifices of His people. Every missionary who sets foot in a hostile land, every believer who speaks the name of Jesus under threat, every parent raising godly children in a godless world all are following in the footsteps of this woman who loved deeply and gave freely.

And Jesus still sees it as beautiful.

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