But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.” (Matthew 26:10)
Today, the Wednesday before Pascha (Easter), we remember this event in which the soul of a harlot was saved through tears and repentance, and the soul of a disciple of Christ was lost forever through greed and envy.
This is the only place in the Gospels that I know of that our Lord and God states something is “beautiful” to Him. That causes me to stop and ponder: what does God find to be beautiful?
The Psalmist writes, “A sacrifice unto God is a broken spirit; a heart that is broken and humbled God will not despise.” (Psalm 50/51)
When we fall down at the feet of Christ in genuine repentance, it is a beautiful thing for invisibly we are re-establishing inward communion with the God of love, grace, and beauty. An inward roadway is opened to the heavens for the angels, the saints, and the Lord Himself to descend within us and carry us upward into the heights of heaven, making us adopted children of the most high God.