When Waste Is Worship: Seeing the Heart of the Titanic Through the Cross
“Why this waste?” — Matthew 26:8
The question echoes across time, always where love pours itself out.
At the end of Titanic, an elderly Rose stands at the ship’s edge and lets the priceless Heart of the Ocean fall into the sea.
To some, it’s waste.
But for her, it’s honor.
She’s returning it to the place of sacrifice.
Jack gave his life so Rose could live, dying while urging her to hold on. She honored that sacrifice by letting the priceless jewel slip from her hand into the abyss.
Not economics—remembrance.
Not logic—love.
The accuser would sneer:
“Foolish. That could’ve been used……….”
But the heart knows:
Lavish love always looks foolish to those who do not understand sacrifice.
Mary
She breaks open a jar of perfume worth a year’s wages to anoint Jesus.
The room judges her.
Judas protests:
“Why wasn’t this sold?”— John 12:5
But Jesus calls it beautiful.
A sacred act of preparation for His burial.
Love—poured out, not wasted.
David
His men risk their lives to bring him water from Bethlehem.
But David doesn’t drink it.
Instead, he pours it out before the Lord:
“Far be it from me, O Lord… Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?”
— 2 Samuel 23:17
To David, it was too holy to keep.
An act of honor.
Paul
From a prison cell, he writes:
“I am already being poured out like a drink offering.”
— 2 Timothy 4:6
Not bitterness. Not regret.
His life, spent for Christ, is a sacred libation—a final gift.
The Martyrs
They shed their blood not to preserve their lives, but to bear witness.
To the world: waste.
To heaven: worship.
And at the center of it all:
“He poured out His soul unto death…”
— Isaiah 53:12
God did not spare His most precious treasure—His Son.
He poured Him out for us.
The world saw waste.
Heaven saw worship.
The accuser Says:
“This is foolish. Wasteful. Unworthy.”
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”— 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)
The accuser highlights the cost and mocks the offering.
But Scripture Says:
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,”
— Ephesians 1:7–8
