The extravagant worship of Mary. Mary was a very pensive, very private
person. Every time we read of her in
scripture, she is at the feet of Jesus. In
Luke 10v39 she waited at His feet and heard His word; in John 11v20 she wept at
his feet at the grave of Lazarus; now in John 12v3, she worshipped at His
feet. This act of utter devotion was
lavish in its detail, her action speaks for itself. “Then took Mary a pound of ointment of
spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with
her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”
In verses 3-10 and we can look at the extravagance
of her worship; the effect of her worship on the gathered company; the examination
of her worship by one out of tune with God; and the extolling of her
worship by the Lord Jesus Himself.
The extravagance of her worship
Worship is just worth-ship, what value we place on the
object of worship. Mary’s evaluation of
Christ was as much as she could give. A
pound of ointment-of spikenard no less, the costliest ointment available, an
aromatic perfume that came from India and Nepal. Judas Iscariot, who was a money-handler knew
its value to be 300 pence or denarius.
We learn from Matthew 20v2 that a penny was a working man’s wages for a
day! Taking into account Sabbaths and
public holidays, what she poured out on Jesus was equivalent to a man’s wages
for a year! Talk about the quiet ones
surprising everyone? She anointed Jesus with a fortune in monetary terms. How she came by this is even more astonishing
for what it reveals about Mary. Jesus
revealed “Against the day of my burying hath she kept this”. She has been saving this up, laying it aside to
use as spices for His burial. We marvel
at her intelligence for she knew more than all the disciples together. Sitting at His feet she learned to her sorrow
that He was going to die, and she believed Him, which was more than the
disciples who could never come to terms with this possibility. Mary simply believed and acted and went out
and bought the most precious ointment available, nothing but the best for her
Lord. This may have been the sum total
of her life savings. She privately
bought the precious ointment and put it away, adding to it as she could for the
day of His burial. But now there is an
even greater wonder, in conversation with her sister Martha, she also learned,
that not only would He die but that He would rise again. Together they interpreted the scriptures,
compared them to what Jesus had said and they were now persuaded He would rise
again, so there would be no need for burial spices! Her brother Lazarus had just died and she
didn’t use the spices for him for she had laid it aside for Jesus, and no one
else. Now in an act of pure devotion she
emptied the casket on His head and wiped His feet with her hair.
The effect of her worship Such
was the effect on John that 70 years after the event he recalls it vividly. Here we are nigh on 2000 years afterwards,
and still talking about this amazing incident.
The effect on the gathered company was the whole house was filled with
the odour of the ointment. Such is the
effect that devoted worship has on any company.
The ointment is symbolic of the incense of the temple, the ingredients
of which speak of the glories of Christ-Exodus 30v34-38. Her anointing was lavish, it was total, she
poured it all out, it was humble, in lowliness she wiped His feet with her
hair. The sweetness filled the air in
the home, bringing pleasantness to all who were gathered.
The examination of her worship Judas Iscariot was not alone in his
criticism of her devotion, but he was sadly out of tune with the mind of God. His characterisation of this was waste, he
had no concept of real values. He was so
aware of the cost of things, he could pinpoint the value and suggest a better
use of the ointment. Yet John reveals
the true reason, he was a thief and had control of the bag for the group of
disciples. Perhaps his objection was due
to missing out on a valuable contribution.
However the worst aspect of this is he had no concept of the value of
Jesus, whom he sold for just 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave in
compensation to his master if accidentally killed according to Exodus 21v32. This was a trivially worthless amount of
money. The real picture here is of the
different worth-ship of the two, Mary and Judas. The need of the poor was more important than
the anointing of Jesus. Rank materialism
had gripped his heart as he succumbed to the god of Mammon. The disciples were not guiltless, but then
they were unaware at the time of Judas’ habits.
Jesus extols her worship He says “Let her alone; against the
day of my burying hath she kept this. For
the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always.” The record in Matthew and Mark of the same
incident reports that Jesus said “She hath wrought on me a good work”-Matthew
26v11 and Mark 14v7. He also said “Wherever this gospel is preached
throughout the whole world, this also that she has done will be spoken of for a
memorial of her.” People will want to
forget Judas Iscariot, but they will applaud Mary across the world. What a commendation from the lips of the
Master. Ultimately it matters not the
criticism of men, all that matters is the commendation of the Master.
No comments:
Post a Comment