Last updated on October 28, 2024
One last story about Mary. It’s found in John 12.
It’s six days until Passover. Jesus and his disciples have slowly but surely been making their way to Jerusalem. They’ve heard rumors that Jesus is going to be arrested as soon as he gets to Jerusalem. Yet Jesus presses on. He has continued to try to help his disciples understand what is about to happen, but they still don’t get it. They still think that Jesus will soon overthrow Rome and become the king, and they continue to argue about what their role in his kingdom will be.
But one person does get it.
Jesus and his disciples go to Bethany on their way to Jerusalem. He wants to see Mary, Martha and Lazarus one last time. John tells us that Martha served dinner, and Lazarus, who not that long ago died and then was raised from the dead by Jesus, reclined at the table with him.
Mary then came out. She took a pint of expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus’ feet. She then wiped his feet with her hair. “And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (John 12:3).
To every person there this was an outrageous act. Judas Iscariot (we’ll get to him later) expresses his outrage by saying, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor. It was worth a years’ wages.” Yes, this was expensive perfume. John notes that Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and wanted the money for himself.
But Judas wasn’t the only one who had a problem with what Mary had just done. Mary had let her hair down in order to wipe the perfume from his feet. This was scandalous in those days. Why would she do such a thing!
Jesus, though, was honored by what Mary had done. She understood more than anyone else what was about to happen, and she was honoring him. Was it a reasonable response to Jesus? No. It was extravagant. It was worship. She was in fact preparing his body for burial. Mark tells this story and ends with the following statement that Jesus made about her…
“Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her (Mark 14:9).