John 12:1-8--THE FRAGRANCE OF THE PERFUME

“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.”

There has always been some form of controversy as to the true identity of this woman, as well as the location of this particular incident. But we will let the Biblical scholars argue over this, and when they had arrived at a finite conclusion regarding the details of this event, we will take a moment to determine their significance. But for the unscholarly such as ourselves, we must look into the heart and mind of the authors and examine the passage in such a way as to arrive at its spiritual significance in gospel history. While the identity of the woman is somewhat important, we agree that Gospel history was written and forged around her actions rather than around her identity; around Jesus’ response to her actions rather than in whose home did the incident take place. According to John, it was Mary who did what this. And according to John it happened in Lazarus’ home, the man whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

They say that John was the most intimate of disciples to Jesus, followed by Peter and then James, John’s brother. John is the one, for example, who leaned on Jesus’ chest and asked him at the Last Supper who the betrayer would be. John is the one who boldly identifies himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And it is John who was thought would not die until the second coming of the Lord. It was to John whom Jesus entrusted his own mother Mary moments before Jesus died on the cross. John was indeed intimate with Jesus, more so than the others. But “intimate” doesn’t always mean “good”. It is the intimate ones who are the first to be offended, and who are the last to forgive grievances. It is the “intimate” who hold the most unreasonable of expectations, and who are the fastest to be spoiled. And it is the intimate who in emotional fits are quick to betray those who love them, those who have taken them into their hearts, and to cast them away in a fit of pride and arrogance. Intimacy— if it is not put in check, prayed over, humbly approached, cherished in the fear of God, is bound to turn sour. It happens between the children of men. It happens with God! John was intimate with Jesus, but John’s love for Jesus was genuine love and not a selfish and self centered love revolving around his own needs and wants and desires. John Loved Jesus intimately and grew intimate with the Savior all based on who Jesus is and what Jesus had come to do. In that way his intimacy with Jesus was not shaken and was never in danger of being severed by the sin which resides in every human heart.

John was intimate with Jesus. But even the blessed disciple John could not match the intimacy this one woman in gospel history was capable of arriving at with the Savior of mankind. The Mary may or may not have traveled with Jesus throughout the years. She may or may not have had many opportunities to fellowship and to commune with the Savior. She may or may not have been able to get humanly close to Jesus so as to receive the daily blessings of being in his company. But even the great disciple John could neither escape nor deny the event’s moment of intimacy between Jesus and this woman. Like a moment frozen in time, all who have ever heard this story can envision a woman with a beautiful heart forever communing with Jesus by pouring out on him fragrant perfume and then wiping it off with her hair. Even if they never talked, who can deny how intimate this woman had been with Jesus! Like John, better still, this intimacy was not based on human favor nor on friendship nor even on long-lasting fellowship, but entirely based on what Jesus meant to her; what Jesus had done for her; and what she owed Jesus in life and in death; what she herself could do for the one who had done everything for her. This is intimacy with God at its best. This is gratitude at its best. This is divine worship. But most of all, this is faith and trust and love for Jesus at its best. And what she did became what we all should long for in our relationship with Jesus; the intimacy we should each strive for with Jesus until we can say that we have indeed given our all to Jesus; until Jesus can say of you and me: “Leave him/her alone,.. It was intended for use in gospel work and in gospel history”; until our actions are regarded as fragrant spiritual perfume to all whom we must influence as Christians.

Read verses 1,2. “Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor, Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.” This would be the last Passover for Jesus before he had to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world. While he was on his way to Jerusalem, the city of his suffering, Jesus arrived at Bethany, the city of his glory where he had raised a man from the dead. And his coming was no secret. People heard of his coming and began to prepare a feast fit for a King in order to honor Jesus. And a dinner table was set up at the house of Simon, called “the Leper”. (Mtt.26:6) Simon couldn’t keep Martha out of his kitchen and let her take over the preparations for the meal. For all of them, it was their way of expressing their gratitude for what Jesus had done for them and in their midst. They were genuinely thankful people who held the grace of God dear and near to their hearts. It was this grace that sustained them as humble people who never forgot what they would have been if it were not for the grace of Jesus to each of them. Especially the Leper was thankful, for once he had been a stench in the eyes of others. But because of Jesus’ grace, he was able to enjoy God’s blessings from day to day. More so than the Leper, Lazarus and his sisters were thankful, for Jesus had turned their misery to joy.

They were all thankful for one thing or another. So John puts them together as they jointly celebrate the grace of Jesus together. But John singles out one woman among all those who were celebrating Jesus’ grace. Her name was Mary. And Mary of all people expressed her gratitude to Jesus in a most unusual way. Read verse 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.” Apparently, Nard was a very expensive perfume produced in India. And a pint of it was worth a year’s salary. (5b) It is not important as to how Mary came to own such an expensive perfume. Some believe that she had bought it from the wages of her ill-lived life in the bed of many prominent men of society. Others believe it may have been the inheritance this trio of siblings inherited from their parents. But wherever it came from, no one denies that this perfume was Mary’s most treasured possession. A woman living in Biblical times did not have much security apart from her father or husband. So we can say that Mary’s nard was her only security for the future. Consequently, it was tantamount to her very life. When Mary poured it on Jesus’ feet, she was pouring out her very life to Jesus. When she wiped his feet with her hair, she was surrendering herself to Jesus in deep humility, for a woman’s hair is her glory. (1.Cor.11:15)

Why did Mary do this? It was her way of saying thank you to Jesus. It was her way of expressing her faith in the One who had now become her Lord and Master. But by far, it was Mary’s way of showing love to the One who forgave all her sins and who gave her a new chance at life, a new life no longer lived in sin or for sin, but a life lived for God and for his glory.

What she did was beautiful. Her act was so beautiful that John had no words to describe it other than in this, “And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” And the fragrance of her perfume has come to fill every true Christian heart from that day on until now. What she did for Jesus teaches us many things. Among those things it teaches us a woman’s true beauty. Spiritually blind people cannot see a woman’s beauty beyond that of physical appearance, or intellectual capacity. They judge a woman’s beauty by form or shape. But Mary’s actions paved the way for all Godly women to show true beauty in Christ. From this woman and her actions we learn what a woman’s true beauty is measured by; it is measured by how intimate she is with Jesus; consequently by how much she gives of herself to Jesus. How fragrant were Mary’s actions! All heaven testified to it on that day.

But one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot was blind— too blind to see the beauty of a woman’s pure heart sacrificed to Jesus. Read verses 4,5. “But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’” From a reasonable point of view, Judas was right. He appeared sacrificial, religious and even righteous. He sounded as if he were a leader in the church and a proponent of justice. His sharp words about this woman’s sacrifice made her appear foolish and wasteful. Her beautiful and sacrificial act would have been lost, if it were not for the author’s comment in verse 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.] Judas was mostly unwilling to sacrifice anything, even for Jesus even for the work of God. While others sacrificed for God and for God’s work, Judas criticized acts of faith and acts of love. He spoke words of reason justifying his own religious and psychological views and actions, thereby confusing those who have no spiritual mind, who like Judas himself are often reluctant to sacrifice to Jesus. In truth he was not interested in the poor, but interested only in himself and in his own welfare and benefit. For this reason Judas could not see what the true Christian heart is like. He could not see the beautiful hearts of sacrificial people like Mary whose love for Jesus exceeded the love of self. Consequently, neither could Judas see the ultimate purpose of all things, that all things are not for the sake of man, nor for his glory; neither are all things for the betterment of the poor and the underprivileged among men; but rather all things in heaven and on earth are for Jesus’ sake and for His glory alone. (Romans 1:5)

We wonder why Judas could not understand this woman’s sincere act of devotion to Jesus, nor understand any act of sacrifice, be it small or big. It is because Judas had not sacrificed much in love for Jesus. His sacrifices were always calculated, well studied, reasonable and such. His sacrifices never made him hurt since they were not sacrifices done in faith, but measured by the sinful nature. His love for Jesus was often cold. He never felt the joy of love, the joy that God’s children experience when they painfully but preciously give something of their own to God. When Jesus called Peter to follow him, Peter left his boat and his nets to follow Jesus. They were his lifeline. They were the love of his life. John and James were to inherit their father Zebedee’s fishing business. But when Jesus invited them to follow him, for the love of Jesus, they left it all. Matthew was a cold hearted man who would even crush the lives of desperate widows in order to make a few more dollars. But when Jesus’ loving voice called him to follow, Matthew left his cold heart behind to follow the Lord. Mary now poured her perfume on Jesus’ feet. But Judas never did anything out of his love for Jesus. He followed because it was beneficial at the time. He followed only to take what he needed from Jesus. He received help from the treasury. But since he only received and never gave of himself, he came to be known as a thief or a user and abuser of others— and ultimately even a user and abuser of God. It is true! In God’s history those who are only on the receiving end, are in essence no better than spiritual petty thieves, who ultimately abandon the Lord. When there remained nothing else for Judas to take, he abandoned Jesus and the mission. On the other hand, those who give of themselves to Jesus remain to become the fragrant blessings of God’s work and history. The fragrance of some of the women in our ministry love for and faith in Jesus will fill the Moslem world some day.

Judas said that it was a waste of expensive perfume. But let us see how Jesus saw her selfless actions. Look at verse 7. “‘Leave her alone,’ Jesus replied. ‘It was meant that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.’” Jesus did not mean that Mary had been knowingly saving this perfume for the day of his death. However, Jesus’ words tell us clearly how Jesus accepted her sacrificial act. Jesus saw her action not as a waste, but as a precious part of God’s work of salvation. Jesus’ death and resurrection would secure salvation to all who believe. We know that no human act nor sacrifice, no matter how glorious it may be, can contribute even a fraction to the salvation work that our Lord Jesus has accomplished on the cross. But Jesus did not dismiss Mary’s sacrifice as useless or wasteful. Rather, Jesus perceived and embraced Mary’s sacrificial act of love as a necessary part of gospel work. Mark 14:9 says, “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” In this way, Jesus vindicated her, and commended her, urging that her sacrificial act be taught wherever the gospel is preached around the world. Read verse 8. “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” Jesus here is not saying that we should ignore the poor. But Jesus teaches what the priorities in the Christian life should be. We are certain that our priorities as Christians should be to serve Jesus’ gospel work. Indeed, Jesus wants all his people to engage in God’s world salvation work through self sacrifice.

Read verse 7 again. “’Leave her alone,’ Jesus replied. ‘It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.’” These are beautiful words of comfort to those who sacrifice much in serving the gospel work of our Lord Jesus. A certain young man was dying in his sins at the time when God’s servant found him and invited him to Bible study. For over three years he was served sacrificially by those among God’s people who took from their own mouths to feed his weak and emaciated body; and who labored in love to serve him the Word of God for the healing of his soul. But when he did not have any use for them anymore, he abandoned them without even saying good bye. Often, our labor of love and our endless sacrifices as Bible teachers and shepherds seem to be nothing but a waste of our precious lives in the midst of a humanity indifferent and apathetic to the Gospel message. But when we carefully listen to Jesus’ words in verse 7, we realize that all our sacrifices, fruitful or fruitless as they may seem, are precious to Jesus. Our Lord Jesus accepts them from our hearts and uses them in his world salvation work. The apostle Paul tells us in 1.Cor.15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Mary’s sacrifice is the picture of true love in action, of godly worship, and of genuine gratitude for the undeserved grace of God in our lives. It is also the picture of the kind of intimacy with Jesus that we aught to crave and to pursue as the dear children of God. Intimacy with Christ Jesus, however, requires that a surrender of pride and to stand alone before the Savior of our souls as sinners in need of his forgiveness. May God bless us to learn Mary’s love and her faith until our lives become the fragrant perfume which influences all others to honor and glorify Jesus. Read the key verse 3 again. “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.”