There is a wonderful mystery in Christianity. But this mystery is very foolish. God’s love is foolish. Therefore, when we try to be smart, we will not be able to see God’s love.

Jesus’ disciples received the Lord’s infinite love and were close to Him, but they did not truly know His love. The world of deep love was not opened to them. They were just infinitely smart and calculating. So when the woman who broke the alabaster jar showed real love to the Lord, they did not see the act of love as love, but thought it was a worthless waste. So they misunderstood it and were angry.

However, Jesus saw her love beautifully. The focus of the Lord was not the alabaster jar of perfume, but the act of love in which she unconditionally and generously gave to the Lord. But, the disciples did not see the love of the woman, but the price of the alabaster jar of perfume. They thought, ‘Why is she throwing away such a valuable thing? It would be good if she sold it and gave it to the poor!’ This is the thinking of those who do not know true love.

The Gospel of Luke records this woman as a truly lowly and sinful woman (Luke 7:37). However, this lowly woman came to know the love of Christ. The disciples who were close by did not know the love, but rather a woman who was far away came to know the love and wanted to return the love to the Lord. Like this woman, we too should become those who return love to the Lord as much as we have received love.

In this woman’s waste, we see the unconditional love that the Lord has for us. The Lord has given us not only His possessions but also His life without reservation. Everything in the Lord’s life was ultimately love for us. The end of that love is the cross.

Look at the Lord’s visit to Simon the leper’s house. It was not easy to truly love a leper. It took an enormous waste of love to embrace and heal him. The Lord’s everything was love. Even at the Last Supper, the Lord poured out His love to the foolish and stupid disciples who argued among themselves about who was the greatest. The Lord loved them to the end. The Lord poured out His love to the disciples to the point that it seemed wasteful.

The Lord’s love for us, His love for Simon the leper, His love for Judas who betrayed Him, and His love for sinners were the loves that were prepared to die from the beginning. Love is this foolish. The world that Jesus sacrificed His whole life to testify to is the foolish mercy of God.

In Luke 15, Jesus explained the world of God’s love and joy through three parables. The smarter the person, the stranger this Word sounds, and it feels not only strange but also unfair. In Matthew 20, the Lord explained the kingdom of heaven in the parable of the workers in the vineyard. The one who worked all day from the morning and the one who came later were given the same wages. This is grace and God’s mercy. However, when we see this mercy of God, we may think it is unfair. However, the more we love, the more foolish we become. The more we love, the more reason disappears.

God’s treatment of us is unconditional love. The Lord came to this earth and treated the poor souls in this way, embracing and healing them. There is no condition in the Lord. When our love deepens and we deeply understand the Lord’s circumstances and His burden becomes our burden, we enter a world where we offer everything we have for Him. When we love, we act like that without reason and without saying a word. We want to deeply understand the Lord’s circumstances and love Him with all our heart like that.

Jesus believed in Judas and loved him to the end. Jesus never thought that Judas would betray Him. The Lord believed that he would definitely change and reveal the wonderful glory of God. Likewise, Jesus never thinks that we will betray him. The Lord always treats us with absolute love. We must also respond absolutely to this absolute love.

When we follow the Lord and walk this path of love, what is it that digs into us? It is worldly judgment. When we see the lives of many people in the world who live only for themselves, our lives of dedicating everything to the Lord may seem like a waste. Furthermore, it may seem that we are living foolish lives. Are there not instances in us like Judas where we criticize the Lord’s love and think it is a waste? Haven’t we ever tried to measure God’s great love with a handful of knowledge because we were smart? We should not lose our faith, eat the fruit of knowledge, and become clever and criticize the beautiful world of faith.

Where does the temptation to turn us away from the Lord come from? It comes when we do not know His true love and try to be smart only in worldly ways. It comes when we misunderstand God’s holy love. That love is clearly a waste. However, we should realize that the love of God that Jesus showed us is a holy waste. In that deep awareness, we will truly abide in the Lord’s love and bear the fruit of perfect love.