John 12:1-11

1-3 Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus' feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.

4-6 Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, "Why wasn't this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces." He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.

7-8 Jesus said, "Let her alone. She's anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don't always have me."

9-11 Word got out among the Jews that he was back in town. The people came to take a look, not only at Jesus but also at Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead. So the high priests plotted to kill Lazarus because so many of the Jews were going over and believing in Jesus on account of him.

The first thing that strikes me as I read this passage is Jesus' commendation of Mary's extravagant love for Him.

I think this strikes me especially because I'm not an extravagant person. I've realized over the years that in many ways I've lived my life from a not-enough perspective; especially in relationships. I've been horrified as I've come to recognize this but it's the ugly truth. So often I've been withholding and selfish because I've somehow thought, on an unconscious level, that there is not enough love and affirmation and all else that I have need of for me. In the last few years I've been coming to realize that God gives way more than I have need of and that it is only in giving it away that my needs will ever be truly met. I'm reminded of when Jesus said, recorded in Matthew 10:38-39: If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me. Many are the days that I learn new aspects to this revelation. Many are the days that I am challenged. Unfortunately many have been the days that I have only realized that I missed it again in retrospect. Oh am I grateful for God's forgiveness and mercy!

In the above passage in John, I see in Mary this kind of first concern not being for herself but to adore Jesus. Her whole being and thoughts are consumed with Jesus and no cost is too great to use in adoration of Him (I've read that scholars believe the cost of the oil she used to anoint His feet to be about one year's wages for a working man of that day). I'm attracted to this - this is so unlike me and how I live my life currently - but this is so much how I want to become!

I was curious what others see in this passage in relation to Mary's extravagant act and this is what I found:

Matthew Henry: "Mary gave a token of love to Christ, who had given real tokens of his love to her and her family. God's Anointed should be our Anointed. Has God poured on him the oil of gladness above his fellows, let us pour on him the ointment of our best affections."

John Darby: " But there was also the representative of another class. Mary, who had drunk at the fountain of truth, and had received that living water into her heart, had understood that there was something more than the hope and the blessing of Israel-namely, Jesus Himself. She does that which is suitable to Jesus in His rejection-to Him who is the resurrection before He is our life. Her heart associates her with that act of His, and she anoints Him for His burial. To her it is Jesus Himself who is in question-and Jesus rejected; and faith takes its place in that which was the seed of the assembly, still hidden in the soil of Israel and of this world, but which, in the resurrection, would come forth in all the beauty of the life of God-of eternal life. It is a faith that expends itself on Him, on His body, in which He was about to undergo the penalty of sin for our salvation. The selfishness of unbelief, betraying its sin in its contempt of Christ, and in its indifference, gives the Lord occasion to attach its true value to this action of His beloved disciple. Her anointing His feet is pointed out here, as shewing that all that was of Christ, that which was Christ, had to her a value which prevented her regarding anything else. This is a we appreciation of Christ. The faith that knows His love which passes knowledge-this kind of faith is a sweet odour in the whole house. And God remembers it according to His grace. Jesus understood her: that was all she wanted. He justifies her: who should rise up against her?"

In what Matthew Henry sees in this passage about Mary's actions I am encouraged to give my "best affections" to God. Not just whatever is left on the edges of life.

In what John Darby sees I am again, as I have been often as I'm reading through John this time, seeing that it's all about Jesus. He is the crux of the issues of life, He is what upsets people, He is the giver of eternal life and all the other good things of God. I like Darby's line "all that was of Christ, that which was Christ, had to her a value which prevented her regarding anything else".

Oh Father may I be all about Jesus in every aspect of my life today. Oh may your Holy Spirit rise up within me an adoration and extravagant love for You. May I live my life to freely give it away for You today. As things come up today may I see them through this perspective.