You have got to be kidding me?! She did what? Thousands of dollars of perfume?
That’s crazy.
It wasn’t a joke, and she’s not crazy. She actually did it. She spent thousands of dollars on perfume and then poured it all out. Not only that, she poured it all out over Jesus’ feet and proceeded to wipe His feet with her hair.
Crazy!
And so the story goes of Mary in John 12:1-8. Judas freaked out about it, declaring that the money she spent on the perfume should have been given to the poor. Not because he really cared about the poor, but because he liked to skim a little off the top of the disciple’s cash box.
When he spoke up about the unjust, unwise extravagance that Mary had just perpetrated, Jesus quickly rebuked him. Jesus told him to leave Mary alone – this was a good thing she had done.
Bottom line: she was sacrificially, extravagantly and proactively loving Jesus.
That’s crazy love!
And Jesus loved it.
I did a little calculation in today’s dollars about the cost of Mary’s extravagant perfume action. Nard, in the day, was a very expensive perfume. Let’s say it was equivalent to Chanel #5 today. In today’s ‘Chanel equivalent dollars’ Mary’s bank account would be approximately $9,215.04 less after she bought the pint of nard. That’s a costly act of love.
Costly = sacrifice. If something doesn’t cost us it’s not much of a sacrifice. We are invited to offer our hearts – our lives – as a sacrifice of love and worship to Jesus. Jesus asks us to exchange our life for the life He has for us.
But not only that, Mary’s act of crazy love was extravagant. Sure, the cost of the perfume contributed to the extravagance, but her actions were extravagant. At a dinner party she pours the perfume all over Jesus’ feet and then uses her hair to wipe off His feet. Hey, maybe spend the money on the perfume, but use it in a special ceremony, or to anoint Jesus after He was dead. But the way she did it was crazy extravagant.
But not only sacrificial and extravagant, it was proactive. She just took the initiative. She didn’t ask Jesus what He wanted. She did what she wanted to do to honor Him. She did what she thought Jesus would appreciate. She did what she thought would best express her love for Him.
To me, the sacrifice and the extravagance are amazing, but what really caught my eye was how proactive she was. We have a tendency to ask Jesus, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” “Lord, what should I do?” However, can you imagine Mary asking Jesus that: “Lord, I want to do something special to demonstrate my love for you – what should I do?”
“Hey, if I have to tell you what to do it kind of takes the ‘specialness’ out of the ‘gift’.”
Try that with your wife sometime. “Honey, I want to show you I love you – what should I do?” I’ll bet that won’t end very well. Her desire is for you to know what would touch her heart, and then just do it.
Care enough to know what she cares about.
I want to be like that with the Lord. To know what pleases Him, and then do it. To do things simply to demonstrate my love for Him. To take initiative on the gratitude and love in my heart for Him. I don’t want to be a robot, just asking Him what He wants me to do for Him, but to understand what is in His heart – what He wants, and then take action on that.
I think Mary’s actions are a great example of sacrificial, extravagant and proactive love – crazy love – for Jesus.
Something to note: Jesus said if we love Him we will keep His commands. (John 14:15) Then He said, “A new commandment I have for you, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)
So, if we really want to love Jesus it’s going to involve loving others.
Find out what pleases Jesus and then go for it – wholeheartedly!
A band of brothers, an army of crazy lovers!
Ephesians 5:10
“and find out what pleases the Lord.”
Ephesians 5:17 (The Message)
“Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.”
Romans 12:1
“Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”