Yesterday, Mary poured extraordinarily expensive perfume over Jesus.
A gift worth roughly a year’s wages.
But almost immediately after telling us that story—
Matthew introduces Judas...
“Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?’”
— Matthew 26:14–15
That word “then” is something to take notice of.
Matthew places these two responses to Christ—
one right after the other.
Mary looks at Jesus and, through her actions, essentially asks:
“How much can I give Him?”
Judas looks at Jesus and asks:
“What will you give me for Him?”
One pours out something incredibly valuable.
The other puts a price on Jesus's head.
“And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.”
— Matthew 26:15
Thirty pieces.
That’s what Judas agrees Jesus is worth to him.
And maybe what’s most unsettling is that Judas isn’t some stranger who wandered into the story right here.
He was one of the twelve.
He’s heard the teaching.
Seen the miracles.
Walked the roads.
Shared the meals.
He’s lived right next to Jesus for years.
Now he’s calculating what exactly he can get in exchange for Him.
Mary and Judas couldn’t be more different.
But both of their actions reveal something profound—
What they believed Jesus was worth.
Most of us will never stand before religious leaders negotiating thirty pieces of silver.
But we still answer that same question.
Not with words.
But with priorities...
with our time.
Money.
Ambitions.
Obedience.
There are things we're happy to surrender for Christ…
and other things we hold tightly because surrendering them can feel like too much.
I haven’t lived all that (relatively) long, but I’ve learned a vital truth:
eventually, what we value most finds its way into how we live.
Mary and Judas make that statement so plain to understand.
Because Mary looked at something the world considered incredibly valuable…
and decided Jesus was worth more.
Yet Judas looked at Jesus…
and decided something else was worth more.
Two people.
And two radically different responses.
The same question that still reaches us today, however.
So, it might be a great exercise to ask ourselves:
What's He worth to me?
Praise be to God.
— Drew
P.S. No book can tell you what Jesus should be worth to you.
But a good one can help you see more clearly who He is—
and why He’s worthy of everything.
That’s what I hope every resource I create helps you do 🙂
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