John 12:1-8; Mark 14:3-8
The Setting
Picture Bethany – a village about six kilometers from Jerusalem, perhaps similar to one of the neighborhoods of a large city. Jesus and the apostles are in the house of Simon the Leper (Mark 14:3). Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead, had very recently been with Jesus and the apostles at the table. Perhaps everyone wanted to hear what he had experienced while he had been dead and Jesus was raising him.
Martha, energetic as always, had taken responsibility for the serving. You know Martha. She was always driven. She always wanted everything to be exactly in its place. Like a diligent hostess, she was always hurried and nervous when guests were about to come. She wanted everything to be prepared, cooked, and arranged. That was Martha (John 12:1-2).
1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. (John 12:1-2)
The Main Character
Martha took care of everything, but the main character was Mary. Mary’s gesture shows what the attitude toward Jesus ought to be in those who preach the gospel, and what attitude the gospel produces in those who receive it (John 12:3).
3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:3)
The Contrasts in the Gospel of John and in the Gospel of Mark
It is no accident that in the Gospel of Mark it is said that what she did will be told “in memory of her” everywhere “the gospel is preached throughout the world” (Mark 14:9). This ought to prompt us to ask the question: “Why is what Mary did so important? Why is it recorded in the Gospels? For what purpose?”
In order for us to understand what Mary did, we must pay attention to the contrasts in the scene.
- In the Gospel of John, it is the contrast between faith and unbelief, which is seen in the different attitudes that Mary and Judas have toward Jesus.
- In the Gospel of Mark, the contrast is between serving out of a relationship with Christ, on Mary’s part, and serving as an end in itself, on the part of the rest of the disciples. For Mary, serving was important because of the One whom she served, namely Jesus Christ.
The aim of this message is that, seeing Mary’s act, we would focus on Jesus Christ and that our wholehearted devotion and longing for Him would grow. Wholehearted devotion is what we see in Mary. She “broke the jar,” and when she did, the fragrance of the perfume filled the whole house. Anointing Him with the perfume was an expression of her wholehearted devotion to Jesus Christ. I pray that this devotion would be transferred into us, so that we would have the same level and quality of devotion to our Lord as she had. That we would simply adore Him, honor Him, and that He would be everything to us, as He was everything to her.
The Contrast Between Faith and Unbelief – Mary and Judas (John 12:1-8)
The two main characters in this scene are Mary and Judas. The contrast between them is striking. It is the contrast between faith and unbelief, between Mary’s faith and Judas’s unbelief.
Contrasting Character
What was their character? It is seen in the display of their feelings. Let us begin with Mary. She was generous and wholeheartedly devoted. She did not begrudge breaking the jar (Mark 14:3). Not merely to pour out a little, but to break it outright and so pour out the whole quantity of perfume – to give everything she had – 100%. Mary was a true worshiper (John 12:3).
3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:3)
Unlike Mary, Judas was a lover of money. He was selfish. Concerning what Mary did, Judas spoke up with a cheap sarcasm, with a bitter, cutting remark: “What is this woman doing?! Could not this perfume have been sold and the money given to the poor?!” (John 12:4-6)
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. (John 12:4-6)
Unlike Judas, who was a miser, in John 12:3 it is said of Mary that she anointed Jesus with “about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume.” We do not know exactly how much this perfume cost, but it was produced from the roots of the nard plant, which grows at over 2,000 meters above sea level. According to Judas, it was worth 300 denarii. Historians tell us that 300 denarii was the value of a year’s wages. If we assume that today the minimum wage is about 500 leva, and we multiply it by 12 months, we get 6,000 leva in today’s money. Mary took this extremely expensive perfume and, without a second thought, spent all of it to anoint Jesus. Both the disciples and Judas were shocked by her wholehearted devotion. Her actions revealed her feelings and her character.
Contrasting Position
What was Mary’s position? By anointing Jesus, Mary took the position of a servant, because in those days anointing was the responsibility of servants. Unlike Mary, Judas placed himself in the position of a critic of Christ. He grumbled not only against Mary, but also against the fact that Jesus was encouraging her actions.
Contrasting Spirituality
If we look at their spirituality, in Mary we have spiritual insight. She anointed Jesus because she knew what lay ahead of Him. In John 12:7 Jesus says:
7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. (John 12:7)
This means that in some way Mary foresaw what was going to happen, and so she did not begrudge spending the whole jar of perfume on Jesus. Evidently Mary had enough spiritual insight to see that there would in fact be a burial, and that Jesus must be anointed for it.
Unlike Mary, in Judas we see a complete spiritual blindness. He is arrogant, extremely rude, tactless.
Contrasting Reputation
What is their reputation? Mary’s reputation? She is remembered for her faithfulness, devotion, loyalty, and wholehearted commitment to Christ. Unlike her, Judas is left with the reputation of a traitor, having earned universal hatred.
Development Over Time
As we look closely at the contrasting attitudes of Mary and of Judas toward Jesus, in them we can see a development. The faith that we see in Mary develops and blossoms into worship. Her natural timidity and shyness was displaced by the fervency of worship that faith had kindled in her. The resurrection of her brother Lazarus stirred up in her such gratitude that she could not hide it. Offering the alabaster jar, full of pure and expensive nard, was the logical expression of her boundless thankfulness to Jesus. She believed in Him, and her faith developed and blossomed into worship before the Anointed One. Remember: faith develops and blossoms into worship.
On the other hand, the unbelief that we see in Judas degrades and degenerates into a denial of Christ and even into betrayal of Christ. Contrary to the disciples’ expectation of a successful political career, Jesus carefully refrained from any statements regarding politics and the state. Instead, He spoke to His disciples about how He would be handed over to death. Judas may have expected that when Jesus came to Jerusalem, He would assert His royal claims and would stand at the head of the Jews in a revolt against the Romans. But Jesus kept saying that His kingdom is not of this world. Jesus’s unwillingness to claim a royal title and power, even though He displayed His miraculous strength, was perhaps the hidden reason for Judas’s treachery.
Judas felt confused, because he saw that the rule he had expected was not going to come about. If the kingdom did not appear at once, Judas’s relationship with Jesus would place him in an undesirable position, in which he would gain nothing from following Jesus. In case Jesus did not become king right away, this would place Judas in the position of a rebel, because he knew that the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus for His claim to be the expected Messiah. If Judas accepted the alternative of betraying Jesus, he would not only benefit financially from those thirty pieces of silver, but he would also join the “winners” – the priests and the Pharisees, as he supposed. Judas’s act is a perfect illustration of denial as the natural result of unbelief. Remember: unbelief degrades and degenerates into a denial of Christ.
In the light of the contrasting attitudes of Mary and Judas, let us examine our hearts. Do we have unbelief in our hearts? If there is unbelief in our heart, then we will be selfish, we will be critical. Nothing will please us, and we may be on the verge of denying Jesus or even becoming traitors to our brothers and sisters.
Do we have faith in our hearts? If we have faith in our hearts, we will be ready to worship Jesus. Our faith will overflow, it will develop into worship. If we truly believe in Christ, then it will not be hard for us to sacrifice ourselves for Him. We will desire to serve Him, and our devotion to Him will increase with each passing day. Do you believe in Christ? If so – you will not be a self-seeker, a critic, and a traitor. On the contrary, it will not be hard for you to give yourself and to sacrifice yourself for Him; you will desire to serve Him, and over time your devotion to Him will grow.
The Contrast Between Serving for Christ’s Sake and Serving as an End in Itself – Mary and the Apostles
So, this is the first contrast that we see in the account – the contrast between Mary and Judas, between faith and unbelief, between worship and betrayal. But in Mark’s account, which relates the same scene to us, there is one more contrast. This is the contrast between serving for Christ’s sake, which Mary had, and serving as an end in itself, which is seen in the words of the rest of the disciples. What did Mary do (Mark 14:3-5)?
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. (Mark 14:3)
To Be “Wasted” for Christ
From verse 5 we understand that “this perfume could have been sold for more than a year’s wages.” 300 pieces of silver, or 300 denarii, were the wages for a whole year of work. But evidently Mary considered that Christ was worthy of all the perfume that she had, and so she “broke the jar.” In Mark 14:3 it is said: “She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.” The Lord Jesus will not be satisfied with anything less than the best that we could do. This is what Mary did. She poured out everything she had; she gave the most precious thing she possessed to Jesus. This was a testimony of her one-hundred-percent surrender, her one-hundred-percent devotion to her Lord Jesus Christ.
And what did the disciples do – not even Judas only, but also the rest of the disciples. They considered her extravagant, and they became angry with her. In Mark 14:4-5 it is said:
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. (Mark 14:4-5)
It was not only Judas who grumbled. The rest of the apostles grumbled too. They said, “Why this waste of perfume?” (v. 4). It was not only Judas who made remarks, but also the disciples “rebuked her harshly” (v. 5). They called her act “waste.”
What was natural and normal for Mary was “waste” for the rest. What is waste? To “waste” something means to give more than is necessary – that is, something may be worth a little, and you give more than it is worth, and so you waste that money. For example, if something is worth ten stotinki, you give ten leva for it. Or, if someone asks you for one cup of oil, you give him ten bottles of oil. That is waste.
What Will People Say About What We Do?
May God help us to be ready for anything for His sake. Let us not be concerned that what we do for the Lord may, according to others, be “squandering.” What we give may not necessarily be only money; it may be talent, it may be time.
When we do something or give something for the Lord, just like Judas and the disciples in this story, there will always be people who say that we have wasted it or that we have wasted ourselves. “Could you not have done something better with that money? Could you not have done something more worthwhile with yourself? Isn’t it a bit too much to give yourself entirely to Jesus?” (John 12:5; Mark 14:4-5)
For example, when someone devotes himself to work full-time for the Lord, his relatives may say that he has “thrown his life away” by not using his talent to become a businessman or something else. Or, if you give systematically for God’s work, someone close to you may become angry that you are giving your money “to the wind.”
Was the perfume wasted? Are we really “wasted”? Is it too much to give our life for Jesus? Is it too much to give our money for God? Is it waste to devote ourselves to Him fully? Can we ever overdo our devotion to the Lord? Look! He did not hesitate to give Himself, to give His life; to go, to pass through all that humiliation, through all that pain, through all that suffering, which He endured on the cross. Whatever we give Him, it will never be enough to repay Christ’s self-sacrifice for us, or to be sufficient thanks for everything that He has done for us.
- Jesus is worthy that you give Him your education.
- Jesus is worthy that you give Him your career.
- Jesus is worthy that you give Him your love, your abilities, your time, your resources.
And even when you give Him all of this, it will still not be enough, because Jesus Christ has no equal! He is more precious than anything else that we could give Him.
Serving as an End in Itself
What did Mary want to achieve through her “waste”? Mary sought Christ’s pleasure. She wanted to show Him respect and love. And Jesus defended her. He said that she had done the right thing. In verse 6 it is said:
6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. (Mark 14:6)
What was Mary’s focus? Her focus was Jesus. What was the disciples’ focus? Their focus was the ministry. The disciples were thinking about how to have a bigger ministry, how to give more money to the poor. They were looking for the benefit. She was thinking about Jesus. Notice His words: “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” For Mary it was natural to think first of the Lord and, afterward, of the ministry. Unlike her, the disciples were looking for the benefit. In Mark 14:5 we see exactly this. There it is said:
5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. (Mark 14:5)
By their words and their actions the disciples showed that they thought that serving the poor was more important than serving Jesus personally. Serving as an end in itself – serving people rather than serving Jesus – is something dangerous for our spiritual condition.
When the disciples attacked her, Jesus defended her. He said: “Leave her alone – she is right! Do not bother her!”
6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. (Mark 14:6)
Jesus Christ is worthy. The disciples said, “Why this waste?” but Jesus said, “Leave her alone, do not bother her!” “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” We must give pleasure, we must strive to please Jesus first, rather than people or ourselves. Jesus is more important than our ministry. We must examine our hearts and compare ourselves with Mary and with the disciples. Let us examine our motives. Why do we serve Jesus? Do we serve Him for His own sake, because we love Him? Does Jesus deserve everything we have, or do we serve for the sake of the ministry itself, or else for the sake of ourselves? We must serve Jesus first, and people afterward.
A Prophetic Act
When Mary broke the jar of perfume and “wasted” – in the disciples’ words – the perfume, she kept nothing in reserve for the future. She did not put anything off. She gave everything to Jesus in the present. She gave herself completely, now. Jesus praised her, commending her for seizing the exact moment. Notice His words in Mark 14:8:
8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. (Mark 14:8)
What Mary did was a prophetic act. No one would have had the opportunity to do the same thing later, because after that Jesus would already be buried, and further on in Mark it is said that the women went to anoint Him in the morning, on the morning of the resurrection.
We must be prophetically sensitive to the time in which we live. So my appeal to you is: Break your jar of perfume today! Give yourself fully to the Lord today! Do not delay! Do not delay, because tomorrow it may already be too late! Whatever you do, do it now, because when the Second Coming comes, you will not have the opportunity “to do it beforehand” and to give Him everything of yourself. Use your strengths and abilities now!
Prophetic Insight That Flows from Personal Communion with the Lord
Mary understood God’s plan more than all the rest. From where? Remember in Luke 10:38-42 that then too Martha was bustling about and getting angry with Mary. Why? What was Mary doing? She was sitting at Jesus’ feet and looking Him in the eyes and at His mouth. She was listening to Him and drinking in every word that He said.
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. (Luke 10:38-39)
Martha became angry with Mary and said to Jesus: “Lord, don’t you care that I am doing all the serving while she does nothing?!”
40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (Luke 10:40)
Then what did Jesus say to Martha? “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)
Martha was a person of action. Mary was a person of relationship. Because Mary communed with Jesus, she had a deeper understanding of who He is and what His mission was. She was the only one who seized the exact moment and anointed Jesus before His burial. In this account Jesus commended her twice for what she did, saying: “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6) and “She did what she could” (Mark 14:8). This was Mary’s service. Let us also serve Jesus and do everything we can for Him.
The disciples did not understand Mary’s act, because they did not understand the words of Jesus. In several places in the Gospels it is said that when Jesus spoke to them that He “would be handed over to the Gentiles, who will mock Him shamelessly, insult Him, spit on Him, and after they have flogged Him they will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again.” And in Luke 18:34 it is said:
34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. (Luke 18:34)
Look at the contrast. Even though Jesus was speaking to the disciples, they did not understand. They had a notion of serving as an end in itself, while Mary, who had deep personal communion and a strong personal connection with Jesus, had a remarkable spiritual insight that helped her to do “what she could” and to do it at the right time.
A Personal Connection with Jesus
We could say that the disciples and Martha were people of doing, but Mary was a person of relationship. They did many things, but they missed the most essential thing. It is important that we make the distinction and begin to value relationship more than “doing.” Our work for the Lord must flow from our personal relationship with Him. Our work for the Lord must flow from our service to Him personally. May God help us, if we look at ministry as an end in itself, to repent, because Jesus rebuked the disciples. While Mary was a person of relationship, the disciples were people of doing, but Jesus rebuked them (Mark 14:6-7):
6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. (Mark 14:6-7)
In Christianity it is very important to have a connection with Jesus. In fact, this is exactly what Christianity is – a personal relationship, a connection with Jesus. It is not merely going to church or performing certain rituals, or even doing social work or anything else. Yes, good works can be the result and consequence of our faith. Faith without works is dead, and if you have true faith, it will express itself in all these things: it will express itself in caring for the poor, it will express itself in ministry, it will express itself in all sorts of things, but above all, in order for us to have true and authentic Christianity, we – each one of us – must have a personal connection with Jesus Christ. This woman, Mary, showed exactly this – that she had a personal spiritual connection with Christ. She broke the jar. She poured out the perfume. She did what she could. She did it when she could, without delaying.
So I pray, and I want this for our church, and for myself I want the same – a personal connection with Jesus. I do not even allow the thought that we could be like Judas, who was a critic and a traitor. Neither must we be like the disciples, for whom ministry was a priority over their relationship with their Lord. We must simply learn from Mary and build our personal connection with Jesus Christ. This is God’s will for each one of us: to have a personal connection with Jesus Christ. This is also the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. We must have a spiritual connection with Jesus Christ. To simply sit at His feet; to look into His eyes; to gaze upon Him; to seek Him in prayer; to long for Him; to pray: “Lord, reveal Yourself to me! Grant me to know You more!” We must see the value of being with Jesus for His own sake, and this must not be under outward pressure, because “the pastor said so” or because someone else “told me so.” If you have this personal connection with Jesus Christ that we are speaking of, then serving for His sake will not be hard for you. Then you will not hesitate, but you will be ready to seek God, and you will be ready to give everything for Jesus.
To Be Pleasing to Him
Question number one is not: Have the hungry been fed? Question number one is: Is the Lord satisfied? In 2 Corinthians 5:9 it is said that “whether we are at home in the body or away from it, we make it our goal to please him.”
9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. (2 Corinthians 5:9)
Let us think about this:
- How do we please the Lord?
- What is our connection with Jesus?
- What are we doing to be pleasing to Him?
- By what can it be seen that He is in first place in our life?
- What is the state of our devotion to Him?
- Are we wholeheartedly devoted to Jesus Christ?
Jesus will never be fully satisfied until we are “wasted” (from the point of view of others) for Him. Jesus looks at our hearts. He knows to what degree we have devoted ourselves to Him, and He accepts nothing less than what Mary did. Therefore I challenge you to check your attitude and your motives. This is the attitude – one-hundred-percent wholehearted devotion to Christ.
Creating a Spiritual Hunger
The spread of the gospel will be accompanied by what Mary did (Mark 14:9).
9 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)
Mary’s fragrance will never fade, because Jesus said that what she did would be written down and told together with the gospel, until Jesus comes a second time. Just as Mary “broke the jar” in order to pour out the perfume, so it is necessary for something to be “broken,” to be sacrificed in your life, in order for this fragrance to be released. The requirement for this fragrance is Mark 14:3b – to “break the jar”! When this happens, the house will be filled with the fragrance of the Savior. In John 12:3 it is said:
3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:3)
The fragrance from the broken jar filled the whole house. It remained on Mary’s hair, because she poured out the perfume and wiped it with her hair. In this way this fragrance passed from Jesus’ feet onto her hair, and she carried it wherever she went. Mary’s attitude draws people. The fragrance from the broken jar is the fragrance of knowing Christ, the fragrance of wholehearted devotion to Christ. In 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 the apostle Paul speaks of this fragrance:
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God. (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)
When you meet someone who is truly devoted to the Lord; someone who finds satisfaction in Christ alone, then your spiritual senses will detect the unmistakable fragrance of the Savior.
The fragrance of wholehearted devotion to Christ can be upon you too. Through what Mary did, God wants to teach us to hunger for Him, to have this wholehearted devotion that she had, and to be fully surrendered to Him. To have such a degree of wholehearted devotion that we create a hunger in the hearts of others for Jesus, when they see our devotion to Him. To share Jesus, His presence, to create an atmosphere of prayer and a sense of Him. To create in others a hunger for God and for the things of God. When they see how God blesses us and how we love the Lord, they will be drawn by the Holy Spirit and will begin to feel a strong spiritual hunger for communion with Jesus. Then He will reveal Himself to them in an incredible way.
Prayer
God, thank You for Your Word. I ask You to work in our hearts and to make us people who hunger and thirst for You. Grant us to love You for Your own sake, to serve You for Your own sake. Grant us to be like Mary, who had a one-hundred-percent devotion, a one-hundred-percent wholehearted commitment, and whose faith developed into a one-hundred-percent worship. One hundred percent hunger for You. One hundred percent surrender to You. Grant us this one-hundred-percent worship of You.
Lord, make us not only to have communion with You, but, as the apostle Paul says, to carry the aroma of knowing You. Grant us to spread it, so that others may be influenced by this fragrance and be drawn to You. In the name of Jesus! Amen!