John 12:1-8, “anointing Jesus with pure nard”Today’s scripture is chosen from John 12:1- 8, and it is about Mary, a sister of Lazarus, again anointing Jesus’ feet with pure nard for his burial. She was the same one who anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume and wiped his feet with her hair and tears in the Pharisee’s house, who invited Jesus for a meal in Luke 7, which happened in the early part of Jesus’ ministry. If we read John 11: 1 and 2, it says, “Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.” In other words, Mary, in today’s text from John’s Gospel, and the unnamed woman who is known as a “sinner in her town” in Luke’s Gospel were the same person. Another important fact is that from the earliest church tradition, Mary Magdalene was just another title for Mary, the sister of both Martha and Lazarus. Do we get that? Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, was Mary Magdalene, and she anointed Jesus twice: first in the early part of Jesus’ ministry and later for Jesus’ burial. On the first occasion, Mary displayed her love and gratitude with tears for the Lord who had forgiven her. We know this because Jesus said that her “sins, which are many, are forgiven in Luke 7:47. The second occasion was recorded in three other gospels, Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 12, for which Jesus commended and recognized Mary anointing him with an expensive pure nard as a memorial act done for his burial in advance, which happened in the final week of his ministry. With that said, let’s go to our text, John 12:1-8. Verse 1 says that “six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany.
We know that Jesus was arrested after he ate the Passover meal with his disciples. In other words, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus, Martha, and Mary lived, to spend his final days with them. During this time, a special dinner was given in honor of Jesus at Lazarus’ house when the Passover was “two days away” if we read Matthew and Mark’s Gospels. Jesus stayed in Bethany for about a week, lodging in Lazarus’ home. Jesus had chosen Lazarus, Martha, and Mary to spend his last days on earth before the crucifixion.
They must have been very special people who gave Jesus the pure joy of having a special friendship with Jesus who lived in a hostile environment toward him. If we know that we will die within a week, where and with whom we would want to spend our last days? Last year in May, I wanted to go to Europe to trace reformation thinkers such as Martin Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin, to name a few, but somehow, I did not feel comfortable with that idea, and I was uneasy until I decided to spend time with my sister who was fighting off with cancer. Then, I did not know that my sister would die in July. In retrospect, it was God’s providential grace that I spent about a week with my sister in her last days on earth.To understand in what way Lazarus, Martha, and Mary were special people, what makes them different from the other people can be learned from the name of the town in which they lived. “Bethany” means “house of poor or poverty.” They were people of poverty, not necessarily materialistically, but “poor in spirit.” As a matter of fact, according to early church tradition, Lazarus was a man of substantial wealth and power, and Mary Magdalene was known as a woman of substantial wealth as well because their father was an important man with great wealth and power who had a connection with the Roman Empire.
But Lazarus and his sisters were “poor in spirit,” seeking God’s kingdom wholeheartedly. Matthew 5:3 and Luke 6:20 stated, Blessed are the poor in spirit” and “Blessed are the poor,” respectively, talk about the poor being blessed for theirs is the kingdom of God. Lazarus, Martha, and Mary were the people who were consciously aware of human weaknesses. They did not have a delusion, thinking that they could enjoy and be merry with their wealth on earth forever since they were rich. Lazarus, Martha, and Mary were the people who experienced that they were nothing without God. They knew they were without substance apart from God. Remember, Lazarus was dead for four days? They experienced that what they had could not help them at all when it came to human death, let alone entering the kingdom of God. Mary prostrated herself at the feet of Jesus for forgiving her sins, wiping Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair. In other words, they had faith in Jesus. John 11: 25 and 27, Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”That was why Jesus came to their home and stayed with them; they were “poor in spirit” and longed for God’s kingdom. Likewise, Jesus comes and stays with those who are poor and humble in spirit, knowing their naked reality, –poor, lowly, and unworthy to stand before God. Secondly, Bethany also means “house of dates”. “Dates” represent the desire for good on a deeper spiritual level, connection to the true Spirit, and the love of serving others. Mary, whose many sins were forgiven, loved to sit at Jesus’ feet to learn about the kingdom of God. She grew spiritually and knew that Jesus was to die to save the world. She anointed Jesus’ feet in view of His impending death and burial! Mary, who learned from Jesus at his feet, was getting deeper into the spiritual level; she knew that the Lord Jesus was on His way to the cross to die for her and the world. That was why she seized the chance to anoint Jesus in anticipation of His burial with all she had. Verse 7 says, “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.” Do you hear what Jesus was saying here? She saved this pure nard, a very expensive ointment, for Jesus’ burial. She intended to use the pure nard for Jesus’ burial, but now that Jesus was there at her home eating with them, she seized the chance to put the ointment on Jesus’s whole body. Mark 14 says that she poured oil on his head, –perhaps from head to feet or feet to head. When someone puts the ointment for burial, they put it on the whole body. Mary poured the whole jar of pure nard on Jesus’ whole body. That explains why the fragrance of the pure nard filled the entire house in verse 3. Then, out of overwhelming gratitude for being the Savior of the world, she prostrated and wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair.
Not only did she give all she had, but she also put herself at the lowest place of a servant, wiping his feet with the symbol of her human dignity, her head/hair. ‘I am dirt before your holy presence. Lord, Jesus, how can I say thank you enough? You would die for me, a person nothing but dirt?!’Mary understood what none of the disciples had fully understood- that Jesus must die for our sins. Mary seemed to have been the only disciple who truly believed Jesus when he announced that He would be crucified and buried. Her faith very much moved Jesus, and so declared, in Mark 14:9, “… I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” None but Jesus Himself understood her action. The disciples did not understand her. Especially, Judas Iscariot, whose heart was after money, did not understand her. How about us? Do we fully know the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice and his suffering in our place? Where is our gratitude if we know the full meaning of Christ’s sacrifice? Where is our “pure nard” this Mary spent on Jesus? What is our “pure nard” that we can break at the feet of Jesus for His sacrifice and love? Can we give all that we have and all that we are in gratitude for what Christ has done us? The alabaster jar Mary broke costs an average man’s yearly wage. In our town, Gillespie, this means at least $25,000.00. That could have been all Mary had left with since it was the second time she anointed Jesus with expensive oil. Another important thing we notice here is that she put her hair/head at the feet of Jesus, wiping his feet with her hair, symbolically saying, ‘I am like the dirt your feet walk on. Lord Jesus, you are most worthy of my praise. All that I have and all that I am is yours!!! Again, what is our “pure nard” that we can break before God and kiss the feet of Jesus with? In contrast, to Judas Iscariot, who did not know Jesus even though he had been with Jesus for three and a half years, living with and following around and learning about the kingdom of God from Jesus, the worth of Jesus was only 30 pieces of silver, about one thousand dollars in today’s monetary value. He did not know the truth; he was greedy after money, having his own agenda and plans in life even after he had been with Jesus intimately for three and a half years. He sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Do we know Christ? What is the worth of Jesus Christ to us? Is Jesus worth all that we are and all that we have, or just thirty pieces of silver?