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

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.