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Scripture reading – John 12
The Gospel of John, though not one of the Synoptics, provides John’s perspective on events in the final week of our LORD’s earthly ministry.
For instance, John gave his eyewitness observation of Jesus and His disciples having supper at the house of a man Matthew and Mark identified as “Simon the Leper” (John 12:1-9; Mark 14:3; Matthew 26:6). Each of those Gospels also recorded that Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus offered a precious sacrifice of ointment, which she poured out on Jesus in preparation for His death on the Cross (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-11).
Again, the events recorded by the apostles are not always in chronological order by chapter and verse in our Bibles. Today’s reading assignment is lengthy, and I will attempt to be as brief as possible in my devotional thoughts.
John 12
A Sacrificial Anointing (John 12:1-8)
We find Jesus and His disciples having supper in Bethany with Martha serving and her brother Lazarus “at the table with” them (John 12:1-2). The meal was suddenly interrupted when Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, took “a pound of ointment of spikenard very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment” (John 12:3).
Mary’s actions are forever recorded as an example of extravagant, sacrificial love and devotion (John 12:3-4). Anointing Jesus’ feet with “a pound of ointment of spikenard” and wiping His feet with her hair, Mary expressed her loving devotion to the One who raised her brother Lazarus from the dead (John 12:3). She sacrificed her most precious possession, for spikenard was a costly fragrance imported from India (and according to Judas, worth 300 pence, or 300 days wages, John 12:5).
Unfortunately, the supper and Mary’s sacrifice were interrupted by the protests of a swindler, a phony, and a fraud named Judas, one of the Twelve (12:4-6). We read, “Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence [one year’s wages], and given to the poor?” (John 12:4-5) Judas resented Mary’s homage to Jesus, and the other disciples were influenced by his hypocrisy. In Mark’s words, “There were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?” (Mark 14:4) Matthew recalled the disciples expressing the same sentiment in his Gospel (Matthew 26:8-9).
Judas’ first words recorded in the Gospels revealed the covetousness of his heart. Looking back on that moment, John wrote of Judas, “This he said, not that he cared for the poor [poor people]; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein” (John 12:6).
Judas’ biting criticism of Mary’s sacrificial love and actions invited Jesus’ reprimand. He rebuked Judas and said, “Let her alone: against the day of my burying [burial] hath she kept [made preparation] this. 8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always” (John 12:7-8).
Closing thoughts –
Mary offered the LORD her most precious possession and seized the opportunity to identify with His sacrifice and death. Others were deaf to Jesus prophesying His hour of sacrifice for the world’s sins had come. She anointed Him for His burial (John 12:7), having faith that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Lamb of God.
Copyright © 2024 – Travis D. Smith
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