Many of us have been Christians for a long time but in our walk with the Lord we often find ourselves doing everything right but lacking that spark, that flame that leads us to deeper levels of surrender. We have great dedication, even zeal, and we have been known to be faithful and responsible in serving God, but something just doesn’t feel right. We’re striving and reaching for breakthrough but we are not quite experiencing the full freedom that we desire. We find ourselves being motivated more out of obligation than true passion for God.
There was a period in my life when I felt encumbered, by my weaknesses and limitations. I was feeling boxed in. I wanted to grow in my passion for God and break out of my shell, but I didn’t know how. I kept asking myself, “What does it mean to have passion for Christ?” As I was wrestling with this issue I landed on this passage from John 12 about Mary breaking the jar of ointment on Christ. After reading the passage I got to think about what is true passion and how God invites us to live out of unbridled passion in our walk with Him.
Six days before the Passover, a week before the crucifixion Jesus knows His death is impending, and He spends His last day before entering into Jerusalem for His trial with His closest friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. In the house at Bethany, there is a hustle and bustle. Guests are moving in and out and food is being served back and forth. They are honoring Jesus, the prophet who raised Lazarus from the dead. Unlike how it was a few days ago the mood is celebratory. Everyone is cheerful. It is a big party. All the Jews that had come to mourn with Mary and Martha before have now come to celebrate Lazarus’ resurrection, and this famous prophet from Galilee.
Jesus is reclining at the table with Lazarus next to Him, the disciples and all the men of the house surrounding Him. All of sudden barges in Mary with this alabaster jar of pure nard. Without announcement she breaks the jar and pours the perfume on Jesus’ head. Gasps go up in the crowd. All the disciples and the men are astounded. As Mary kneels and starts to wipe Jesus’ feet with her hair, we sense the crowd twisting and turning, feeling a sort of unease. There is a long silence. The fragrance of the perfume starts to permeate the air and everything until it fills the whole house.
Put yourself in Mary’s shoes. It took courage to do what she did in front of all those men, especially taking into account the relationship between men and women in those days. It was unusual for an unmarried woman in those days to be in the company of men unless to serve. Think about the awkwardness that would have been caused by her presence. Mary knew well that what she would do would cause such a stir, in particular this striking act of breaking the perfume jar, pouring it out on Jesus, then wiping His feet with her hair. For her to do this intimate act, a very personal expression of devotion, took tremendous courage. It was something you wouldn’t normally see a person do in front of others. In fact you would be downright embarrassed to express such affection to someone in public. Think of how uncomfortable it made everyone feel. Yet she didn’t let social convention, what people thought, and the fact that her act would cause such a disturbance hold her back from expressing her deep love and gratitude for Christ. It’s almost as if in that moment her love for Christ was uncontainable. She had to express it in the only way she knew how. And nothing would stop her.
It is interesting that Mark writes that she broke the alabaster jar, meaning she intended to completely waste it on Jesus. She wasn’t holding back. She didn’t save any of it. It was worth more than a year’s wages which would transfer to about $20,000 dollars or 72,000 shekels by current standards with conservative estimates. Can you imagine wasting that much money on someone on a single act, even someone you love the most? A wedding ring, usually the most expensive investment we make on another does not cost half as much. No wonder why the disciples thought it was a waste. Moreover, it is quite possible that this was her dowry. She had kept this as a gift to give to her future husband on her wedding day. Having a more expensive dowry made you more desirable as a marriage candidate. For her to give this up meant she was sacrificing even her chances of ever getting married. When taking into account the importance of marriage to women back in those days, her sacrificial act is highlighted even more. As a woman at that time, you really didn’t have an identity apart from your husband. Your status was defined by who you were married to. In fact there weren’t many options for a woman to carry on her livelihood apart from marriage.
As soon as Mary broke the jar the whole house was filled with its fragrance. Imagine what a beautiful scene this is. Imagine being there, the smell washing over every part of your being. Then she wiped Christ’s feet with her hair. Only slaves wiped the feet of their masters. Out of her own free will she was lowering herself to the position of a slave to wipe the feet of her Lord, the humblest part of His body with her hair, one of the most glorious parts of a woman’s body. Nothing of hers was too sacred to offer up to Christ. No longer was she this dignified woman, but she became undignified. In the face of love dignity is laid down. True love is undignified. There is no pride in love. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13. Love does not let us remain composed, sitting proud and upright in our seats. No. It is raw. There is a certain nakedness where you’re stripped of your ego and you become vulnerable. It moves you to radical action and to do foolish things.
As I was reading this story I was reminded of another story in the Bible, of what King David did when he brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. He was dancing naked before the LORD with all of His might. In that moment he was no longer a dignified king but simply a worshiper stripped of pride and position before the King of Kings. When Michal his wife confronted him he stated, “Even if I’m more undignified than this and humiliated before my own eyes I will celebrate before the LORD.” There was nothing hindering him. His love for the LORD was not the kind that was contained, prim and proper and maintaining composure. It was raw, dancing before the LORD with all his might. See when love motivates us it breaks through conventions. It’s uncontainable. That kind of love is contagious.
Yet that kind of love can also lead us to be misunderstood. When our love for Christ goes from mediocre to passion that is when the world starts to take notice and our love starts to cause a disturbance. Mary’s act caused a disturbance. It shook people up. It offended the disciples. When our love becomes radical that is when people start to get upset and say “You can’t do that.” When your love for Christ becomes radical even fellow Christians may see you and may not understand you. They may be offended, some even persecute you. We see the same kind of reaction to King David as that to Mary. Both Michal and the disciples (in particular, Judas) are offended and upset at this radical expression of love, because they don’t understand. They don’t understand the beauty of our King, the King of Glory, and His Majesty. For them it is unfathomable; it doesn’t make sense to them because they don’t know the One deserving of such worship.
Nothing was too unbecoming for Mary to do for Jesus because of her unabashed, unbound love for Him. In this way she was like Christ, embodying the love Christ Himself showed. For one Christ did a similar act for the disciples a chapter later; He washed the feet of the disciples. More importantly He was completely stripped of His dignity when He was crucified naked on the cross. God stood undignified, naked before the world that He loved and made His confession of love. Perhaps this is the reason why Christ commends her in such a way and says that her act will be told in remembrance of her wherever the gospel is preached.
We see the different reaction of Christ and the disciples to Mary’s act. The disciples are upset and angry while Christ commends her act. Jesus does not prohibit our acts of devotion no matter how radical it is, because He is worthy. What seems like a waste to others is not a waste in His eyes. He receives it and commends it. He keeps a record of it. Everything we do for Jesus He keeps a record of. Moreover He honors this woman’s extravagant show of affection and says that her act will be commemorated wherever the gospel is preached. God honors and recognizes such devotion to Him. Again we find parallels in the story of King David. When David realizes that he is living in a magnificent palace while the house of God lies in shambles and he has it in his heart to build a temple for the LORD what does God say in response? “You will not build a house for me, but I will build your house. I will establish your kingdom and it will endure forever.” God honors our acts of love and they are never wasted upon Him. While the world points the finger and says that we should be preoccupied with other more important things. God honors and remembers every small act of love we do for Christ. The world may not recognize such wasteful acts of love, but Christ does not consider them a waste. He remembers them and honors them. He says “You have done a beautiful thing to me.” What do we do that seems like a waste to others, but is really not in Jesus’ eyes? To Jesus it is a beautiful thing.
How much of our actions supposedly out of devotion to Christ are limited by what is the right thing to do, by societal norms, and by other people’s expectations? How radically different will our lives be if we were led by unbridled passion rather than a set of do’s and don’ts? How differently will the world view us if we start living like this woman in our daily lives? I doubt that they will fail to see Christ that lives in us.
Often times we think of the Christian life as a list of do’s and don’ts. As long as we are doing what is minimally required to stay clear of sin, to contribute in some way to the church and show up at all of the meetings there is not much more that is demanded of us. But what we fail to realize is that Christianity is a journey into a robust relationship of limitless love towards God, and this means more than just fulfilling an obligation out of moral duty. It is about finding yourself so overwhelmed with the love of God that you are never the same, leading to radical abandonment to God. When you’re in love you don’t really think about what you should or shouldn’t do. You don’t start measuring and thinking about how much it is going to cost you, the sacrifices you have to make and your efforts to please the other person. You do crazy things for the person that years later you look back and say “What was I thinking?” That is because your love for the person compelled you on. Everything else fades in comparison. Serving the other is no longer an obligation but you love to do it. You love surprising that person with extravagant gifts and lavishing them with your affection. It’s not an obligation or a burden. You’d rather be doing it. In fact it would be painful for you not to do it. In any relationship, the moment it becomes a problem is when it simply becomes about an obligation and that is the only thing maintaining the relationship, because the fire is gone. Jesus tells us this is a serious problem, and we need to repent from it as He tells the Church in Ephesus in the Book of Revelation. True Christianity is about living out of passion rather than merely out of duty for the One who saved you. That may lead you in response to do radical things that seem “wasteful” to others. In fact your whole life may seem like a “waste” in the world’s eyes because you no longer operate by their standards. God desires for us to ultimately go beyond merely observing a rule to where we want to give all of ourselves to God, where nothing we hold is withheld from Him, to come to the place where we are unrestrained in our love for God even to the point where we would gladly lay down our lives for Him.
Mary wasted what was most precious to her, before Jesus.
I want my life to be wasted before Jesus.
May that be our heart’s cry and desire.