John 12:1-8 (New Living Translation)
1 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages.[c] It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
Today we are invited to a party with Jesus as the guest of honor.
Seated at the party among others we have Judas, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus a friend of Jesus’ who has just been raised from the dead.
After the meal, Mary took out a bottle of perfume and anointed Jesus’ feet with it. This was not just any bottle of perfume either.. it was a very expensive bottle of perfume.
It was her year’s wages in liquid form.
She bathed Jesus’ feet with one year of her life.
This poses a question:
If you were given an opportunity to use a year’s time and or salary to honor Christ… how would you spend it?
Really think about that for a moment….
What would you spend a year’s salary on to honor Christ?
• Would you donate that money to your favorite charity?
• Would you give that money to the church?
• Would you buy lots of food and feed the homeless?
A year’s salary for most of us would be a major amount of money that could really do a lot of work.
If you could take a whole year and spend it to honor Christ what would you do?
• Would you take a year long mission trip?
• Would you volunteer at an after school program?
• Would you become the best church member in the world and work there for free helping out in different ministry areas?
What would you do if you could give a whole year of yourself to Christ?
How is that reflected in your life today?
See the thing is… we should be honoring Christ with every second of our year. We should be in mission every day of our life. Are you ready to give your year to Christ like Mary, or like Judas… do you think it is a waste of time? Our attitude is everything.
To Mary her attitude was her testimony… the value of the perfume wasn’t even in her mind, but the value of her relationship with Christ was on her mind. She knew that she was honoring Christ with her actions… it was second nature for her.
Most of us struggle with giving up something for Lent. For 40 days we are obsessed with trying to honor Christ and sacrifice something to understand his sacrifice.
We painstakingly mark our calendars just counting down the days until we can get back to our old ways and old habits.
Some of those things we should be giving up anyways.
Imagine sacrificing and honoring Christ with out a second thought 365 days…. Instead of 40.
What makes Mary’s gift to Jesus so noteworthy is not the perfume itself but the actions and sacrifice and attitude behind it.
It would be one thing if she just handed Jesus a cute gift bag with an expensive bottle of perfume – but it wasn’t about the perfume.
It was about the anointing.
It was about what she did with the perfume that made it so special.
She took her everyday life… her everyday year…. All that she had and placed it at the feet of Jesus.
The man who brought her brother back to life.
What do you give somebody who brings your brother back to life?
Yet she wasn’t repaying Jesus… this wasn’t a thank you gift.
It was an action of reverence and preparation. She was anointing his feet and preparing him for his soon to be burial. It was symbolism. It was sacrifice.
It was her attitude.
Mary’s attention was not on the perfume… it was at the feet of Jesus.
Verse 8 points out the importance of that focus:
8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me
Imagine having dinner with Jesus at your home for a moment… not in the olden days… but right now.
Imagine inviting Jesus to your house for dinner. What would you cook? How would your table look? Would you get him a gift? What is of worth in your life that you could give to Christ?
What would you possibly give the man who had his hand in creating everything you have?
When we bring Jesus into our lives, we aren’t inviting him into our homes but into our hearts.
He won’t be face to face with us like he was with Mary… but with every breath we take he is present in our lives.
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