Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair ; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?" Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Therefore Jesus said, "Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. "For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me." (John 12: 3, 7-8)
Being a longtime fan of the sitcom, Seinfeld, one of my favorite episodes was about the BMW that Jerry purchased. Jerry attended some sort of function and had the car parked valet. When the car was returned to him, it reaked of some sort of body odor. After exhausting every possible method to deodorize the BMW, Jerry finally ended up giving the car away to a bum on the street. The smell must have been bad for him to just give away a BMW and I shared the same sentiment as Judas did in the above passage when Martha anointed Jesus with the expensive perfume. What a waste!
What strikes me about this scripture is that Mary could have pulled out some cheap perfume or only used the expensive perfume sparingly, but she understood exactly who Jesus was, the Messiah, and was preparing Him for His burial, even though Judas Iscariot's greed caused him to ridicule her for her loving actions.
Where does Jesus fit into your life? Are you willing to give it all away for God or are you like the one who skimmed off the top what was rightfully given to expand the Kingdom and take it for your own? Questions to think about on this Holy Thursday...
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