By Hope Ellen Rapson
"Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, the Jesus had raised from the dead. So, they gave a dinner for him there; Martha was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive Nard, anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair. So, the House was filled with the fragrance of the perfume…" John 12:1-8
Shortly after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus, Lazarus, and Lazarus' two sisters were invited to a dinner with family friends. This event was in direct defiance to the orders of the Sanhedrin edict that anyone who knew where Jesus was, should report it so that they could arrest him (John 11:57).
Mary chose to worship and honor Jesus by helping to serve the meal, no doubt with a heart of joy. After all, her sole legal protection and financial provision in society had been restored when Lazarus was restored to life. Mary chose to worship and honor Jesus another way. Washing someone’s feet was considered degrading, but Mary washed the Lord’s feet with twelve ounces of undiluted perfume (nard) worth a year’s wages. Furthermore, she dried the Lord’s feet with her hair, which was expected to be completely covered as a sign of purity and piety. All the guests, and especially Mary, recklessly abandoned and disregarded their culture’s expectations and concerns; they purposed in their hearts to follow Jesus as “God in their midst.”
Are you ready to take risks to align yourself with Jesus? Are you willing to “worship Christ in spirit and in truth?”
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