In which a white daisy is derided – but not by Our Lord

by Craig on June 14, 2011

It was evening. Dinner had been served. He was a houseguest reclining at the table. There may have been wine, and conversation, and maybe some music.

And then she entered.

For anyone just joining in on this study, reading the title, and thinking that the apostles never derided a daisy – when in fact they did – the answer lies here. It would be truly helpful to read that first.

She carried a small, light colored container.

It may have been polished and beautiful,

more likely, I think it was not.

a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of costly perfumed oil, and poured it on his head while he was reclining at table. (MT 26:7)

source

It was an anointing of sorts, an act of honor. And as the disciples of Jesus grew indignant about the indulgence, Our Lord corrected them,

Why do you make trouble for the woman? She has done a good thing for me. (MT 26:10)

And unless you have an old translation of the Bible, a King James, or a Darby, or Douay Rheims, or American Standard Version – or maybe a handy copy of the Greek New Testament. You read and know only that she had done a “beautiful thing” or “a good thing”. And she had. But more than that… This was a daisy, a white daisy, a good “work”. In the Greek it’s an

ἔργον καλὸν

pronounced (air-gone kalon – with emphasis on the colored syllables – and with a Greek chef accent)

It was a “work” that honored the one to whom honor is due – and in a way that no one else was doing.

It was a “work” of selflessness. That was special stuff that she used. The perfumed oil was the kind of stuff that she would’ve wanted to keep for herself – but gave it with an attitude of deference, and honor, and respect, and love. It reminds me of the Christmas story of the bride who sells her hair to buy a gift for her husband – and he sells his watch to buy a brush for her hair. It’s a “work of the law of love”. It’s, as our Lord called it, a “good work”.

It’s a daisy…

It’s a white daisy.

It makes me wonder how often I miss “white daisy” opportunities.

Lord, to see a need and fill it, to see the honor that you are due, to give of myself, to not hold on tightly to the things of this earth, but to take what I have, what I want, and use it – not for me, but for others, for you.

To be willing to be looked upon as different, as a little too devoted, a little too centered on you, a little too radical in my faith.

That’s a white daisy.

This woman had nothing to gain by doing what she did,

but somehow I think she gained an awful lot.

She got your attention.

She got your approval.

I think she got your smile.

I want that.

… and I’m really beginning to heart this study of daisies.

{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

A. June 14, 2011 at 9:53 am

I heart this white daisy story. it takes my mind away from the darker daisyness. I especially heart the descriptions in the bold letters at the end!!!! This one goes on the road with me today-thank you!

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Craig June 14, 2011 at 12:12 pm

“works” has such a bad name – I can see why the newer translators have delineated between the different kinds of works – that’s important – that’s what I’m doing. But I think it’s going to be real interesting to find out how many works are good, not so good, neutral, of the law of Moses – and of the law of love. Thank you A. God bless you as you travel.

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Cora June 14, 2011 at 10:19 am

“Nothing to gain by what she did…” That really struck me today at the core of my heart. (And that’s where all the daisies are rooted, No?) One of those moments for me when I could “see.” This could have been a “black daisy” if she had had evil intentions to hurt someone. Or a yellow one if they had been to gain favor with Jesus. (I’m getting the colors mixed up. I need to pin them up somewhere!) Or could have been the one that stock piles daisies to earn their way into heaven. Etc. Etc. All of a sudden I’m understanding Paul better, too, where he loves a weaker Christian so much that he is willing to “do the works thing” just so the weaker one won’t stumble over him. Now that is a white daisy to me. Why am I not seeing too many white daisies in MY field. . . . .???

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Craig June 14, 2011 at 12:18 pm

Cora, the colors kind of make a little sense to me – there is the yellow which means caution – the white which is pure – the black which is anti-pure – purple which is the royal color for miracles – and the green – that one doesn’t have a color match but all the others do – the more I think about this and write about it the clearer the colors are getting – and I heart the Daisy metaphor are a lot! And I know that you have plenty of white daisies in your field – I think the truth might be that all of us have a multicolored field of daisies. God bless you Cora.

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Kris June 14, 2011 at 1:20 pm

I need more white daisies in my life. Or perhaps, I need to be more careful not to blow past the white daisies for the distraction of the other colored ones…..

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Kris June 14, 2011 at 1:21 pm

Well, look at that! I am indeed freed from captivity of the dreaded spam folder. Blessings, brother. Sweet freedom! 😉

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Craig June 14, 2011 at 1:43 pm

Kris, we all need more white daisies in our lives. And it seems there are daisies to avoid, daisies to be careful of, daisies that are just there, daisies that mean all whole bunch, and then there are those miraculous daisies which – well – their miraculous. I started my search for “works” too wide – then narrowed it too much – now I’m looking at all of the instances of the Greek word ἔργον – that way I get everything in front of me and can sort through it all at the end to see exactly what it all means. But it’s turning out to be an absolutely delightful meandering through the biblical meadow :-) not as “deep” as I usually get – but fun! God bless you Kris – it is always a delight to see you here – and Amen SWEET freedom from the dreaded spam folder. Always alleluia!

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tinuviel June 14, 2011 at 6:28 pm

Hi, Craig! Do you remember leaving a question for me in the comments at the crumbs blog? Tomorrow’s post is my attempt at answering it. I pray you find something of help there. Grace and peace to you.

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Dawn June 14, 2011 at 11:20 pm

Dear Craig,

I was with Cora. I needed a map. So good of you to leave the map of colors you had in your head in your reply to Cora. NOW I’ll go back and try to navigate. All I was seeing in my meadow were green stems. The muttlies are waiting for me to catch up. This will help a lot.

God bless,
Dawn

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Craig June 15, 2011 at 12:51 pm

Dawn, as per your request I put up a roadmap to the daisies today – I put it up right after you read so you probably haven’t seen it – just sayin – maybe you should come back and read the post that I wrote because you told me so – kind of :-) God bless you Dawn.

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Michelle June 15, 2011 at 8:14 am

The daisy’s are very aprop at the moment. I had a friend text me every day for 9 days with flowers: purple – peace; green – hope; red – love; orange – joy; yellow – His faith; royal blue – trust (in Him); white – purity, with a silver ribbon around – trust, and wrapped in gold – grace. I felt to draw them, but don’t know yet where they are going to end up, currently they are sitting on the music stand of my daughter’s keyboard (they have also been scanned and put on my facebook page).

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Craig June 15, 2011 at 12:53 pm

Wow! keep me posted on where they end up! :-) God bless you Michelle.

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Michelle June 17, 2011 at 4:51 am

Here’s the link to the pic on facebook so you can see what it looks like. The silver is not as thick as I would have liked, but I didn’t have a thicker pen.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.222685867761076.72252.100000589933046#!/photo.php?fbid=223241654372164&set=a.222685867761076.72252.100000589933046&type=1&theater

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Craig June 17, 2011 at 12:34 pm

Michelle, the link didn’t work – can you maybe send me a new link?

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Michelle June 17, 2011 at 8:22 pm

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=223241654372164&set=a.222685867761076.72252.100000589933046&type=1&theater

Craig, try this link. If it doesn’t work then I might have to email a copy of the pic to you.

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