“One of the greatest willing, knowledgeable acts of worship in all the gospels!”

Mary took 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.    

 John 12 3.  Compare Mat.26 and Mark 14.

        Mary is the woman who sat at Jesus’ feet. We wonder what she learned there but these passages seem to give us hints. She was a moderately wealthy woman but she learned that bearing any shame was worth it for Jesus—she came bare-headed to worship him in what might well have been a supper of all men. She learned that no sacrifice was too much for him—she gave up a perfume-treasure worth a year’s wages, and faced Judas’ rebuke. She learned that Jesus was going to die and be buried—and to do her part, she anointed his body with her perfume (she wouldn’t get near his body at his death). Finally, she had seen with her own eyes that he could raise the dead—with that kind of power, she knew that he could raise himself, too!

        All-in-all, a level of understanding, trust, and obedience that far surpassed any of the disciples. Even looking back from the present day, in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, and committed to Christ, would we dare as much?   Ì