Faith & Reflection
I’ve been teaching through the life of Christ for 40 Sundays with 8 more to go. It’s been a long trip on a slow ship, but I’ve found the voyage to be pleasant, picturesque and poignant.
This past Sunday we came to the place where Mary worshiped Jesus by anointing Him. The event is recorded in Matthew 26:6–13, Mark 14:3–9 and John 12:1–8.
The oil that Mary used was “pure nard” and was sealed in an alabaster vessel. This anointing oil was worth 300 denarii. Today that would be roughly equivalent to $21-$25,000. This was quite an act of worship!
This sort of thing doesn’t come out of a vacuum. Dramatic, dynamic happenings of this sort are prefaced by circumstances, events and decisions that mold and shape character and these in turn result in remarkable events like the anointing. What was it that prompted Mary to engage in such an astonishing and memorable activity?
Mary is mentioned three times in the Bible; Luke 10, John 11 and John 12. Each time, she is found at the feet of Jesus. In the Luke passage she is sitting at Jesus’ feet listening, learning and fellowshipping with Him.
In the second passage, John 11, Mary falls down at Jesus’ feet prayerfully expressing her grief with respect to the death of her brother Lazarus. Her prayer was answered powerfully and promptly, for Jesus immediately raised Lazarus from the dead.
The third mention of Mary is the anointing passage found in John 12. I’m suggesting that the third is the product of the first two. Fellowship with Jesus and accessing Him in prayer, typically leads to worship of Him and that is what Mary is doing in John 12. And that is why the cost of the oil meant little to her and the worship of her Savior meant everything to her.
How can Jesus have such a profound impact on His followers? It is, of course, because of the personal touch that we receive from Him.
There was a little girl who did poorly in the first grade and consequently was considered to be a slow learner. However in grade 2, right from the beginning, her grades improved dramatically. She had a new teacher for grade 2, and while her teaching skills were not noticeably higher, she whispered into the little girl’s ear at the end of each day, “I wish I had a child like you…” It was the personal touch that made the difference!
It is the personal touch that moved Mary to worship and draws us to Him...God, routinely and regularly whispering into our hearts, “I want to have a child just like you...” Are you listening?