What Will Be Told for All of Eternity

“But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me… Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.’” (Matt. 26:10, 13, ESV).

Jesus was so moved by this woman’s worship that He immediately declared that her devotion would be proclaimed all around the world.

There is an extremely important message to us here. Do you notice that there is no other place in Scripture like this? No other place where God was so moved that He was bursting with a need to broadcast the moment to the four winds?

Do you notice that it didn’t happen when the disciples came back to Jesus after their successful missions preaching the gospel? Jesus didn’t say, “Oh my goodness, you twelve men just changed the world. You have overwhelmed Me! This is going to be told throughout the earth till the end of time!” Nope.

Did you notice that it didn’t happen when Peter started fulfilling his apostolic role, winning five thousand men to the Lord at Pentecost? I don’t see any parted clouds happening there in Acts 2; there’s no voice from heaven saying, “This moment is ministering beautifully and deeply to Me… it must be heralded everywhere!” Nope.

Did you notice it didn’t happen when the church began multiplying dramatically? That it didn’t happen after any of the stupefying miracles that the disciples performed? Not even when they raised the dead back to life?

There was only one place, only one time: when this unnamed woman poured out everything she had on Him. In this singular moment in history, God is showing us what moves Him the most. It’s not anything spectacular we can do for Him. It is, instead, the purity and fierceness of our devotion.

I believe that Jesus’ exclamation meant that this woman’s act of love would be proclaimed, not only in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm as well. That’s my understanding of His wording “in the whole world.” The world is not only physical. It’s just as spiritual as it is physical. The spiritual and the physical are inextricably intertwined all around us.

Yes, I think there is something here even more important than her story being told to other humans. It’s that God would be trumpeting the overflow of His heart to the entire heavenly realm. “LOOK HOW MUCH THIS DAUGHTER LOVES ME!!!!!”

And another thing. Holy Spirit wants us to remember that the proclaiming of the gospel is not just for our earthly lives. The Bible refers to it as the eternal gospel:

“Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth — to every nation, tribe, language and people” (Rev. 14:6, NIV, bold emphasis mine).

Forever and ever, throughout all of eternity, this gospel — what Jesus did for us on the cross — will be proclaimed, exalted, and magnified. Don’t miss this. When we pour out to God what is most precious to us in worship… that moment of sacrificial devotion, too, will be proclaimed everlastingly, time without end. Forever and ever, it will ascend into His nostrils as sweet incense. Forever and ever, it will bring honor and supreme joy to His deepest heart.

“Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed… what she has done will also be told in memory of her…”

Understanding this crucial, vital truth, what is the most important thing you will do today?

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Do you sometimes take time out to contemplate what eternal reward is going to be like? Do you try to imagine forever and ever?