How Much

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

HOW MUCH

John 12:1-3

12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 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.

NIV

So Lazarus is still alive and well and it has been some time now since Jesus raised him from the dead. This seems to be a pattern, when Jesus performs a miracle like giving sight to the blind, healing leprosy, healing the lame, raising the dead, they stay healed. That in itself is a lesson for us in that when Jesus heals us of whatever, we stay healed. So why ask a healed person how they are doing, for they are healed, of course they are doing wonderful, and Lazarus was no exception. He was reclining at the table with Jesus. This was the method of dining in those days, as chairs pulled up to a high table such as portrayed in Da Vinci’s last supper were not how it was, but rather a low table with throw pillows around for the men to recline against, their feet aimed away from the table. So there was Lazarus enjoying the good life with Jesus. We also see a brief picture of the serving Martha, busy about doing the work, and the adoring Mary pouring expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus. We already considered the two types of worshipping Jesus, but we should focus our attention on this act of Mary as this seems to be the theme of this portion of the narrative. We must see this in light of the fact Jesus had raised her dear brother from the dead, although we also know that Mary, Martha and Lazarus already had a special relationship with Jesus before Lazarus died. Yet still Jesus had done something very special for this family, and she wanted to show him her love. As we will see next this was very expensive, it was worth a lot. We do not know the financial situation of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. We do not know of their parents, we do not know of the two sisters having a husband, which is unusual in those days, and we do not know of their ages. What we do know is Mary wanted to express in an open out loud manner her love for Jesus. This pouring of perfume permeated the whole house; it could not go unnoticed, as she also then wiped his feet with her hair. It was customary for the host of a dinner to wash the feet of those dinning, and this may or may not have been done already, but the fact is, Mary did not just wash his feet, she showed how much she worshipped him. How much are we willing to show our worship of him? Most of us won’t even raise a hand in worship during the worship time in song at church. We will see this perfume was equal to a year of wages which is a lot of money. Did that change the life of those three? Again we do not know their portfolio picture, how much they had in savings, or a retirement account, we don’t even know what they did to support themselves. But a gift of that value was still something very special. How much are we willing to give in worship of Jesus? True Mary did not give to a church which might be using the funds in a Godly way, or they may not. This is not about the church, this is about worshipping Jesus. Are we willing to make a spectacle of ourselves in front of everyone showing our worship, our love for Jesus?  Are we willing to give whatever? We will see how Mary was criticized for what she did, but she did it because she loved Jesus so much, and that is all that mattered to her. How much do we love Jesus?