Extravagant worship

‘Then 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

A special dinner was being given in Jesus honour at the house of Simon the Leper (a Pharisee) in Bethany.  Lazarus was one of the guests and was reclining at the table with Jesus and Mary, his sister, anointed Jesus feet with a pint of pure nard and wiped them with her hair.

What I love this story is the extravagance of the anointing. First of all it was a financially extravagant gesture. By today’s standards the perfume Mary used (pure nard) would have cost at least £25,000 (a year’s wages).  That was a very expensive perfume. A pint of today’s good quality perfume would be about £400. To use it on one act of devotion is truly extravagant. No wonder Judas with an eye on the finances so he could steal from them, objected to the use of so costly a gift. But it wasn’t his gift that was being given. We should never criticise another’s gift.

I love too the extravagance in worship and thankfulness that Mary showed. Even in today’s free and easy culture most of us would be very embarrassed if someone knelt down and poured a huge amount of expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and then wiped it with their hair. We would all be muttering amongst ourselves about the lack of propriety shown. We would be thinking that it isn’t right to let your emotions go like that. You need to get a grip and be respectable. 

In Jesus’ day and that culture, although anointing was known, the manner of this was just as unseemly and especially by a lady with a good reputation in the community as Mary seemed to have. I expect everyone wondered what had got into her. Mary’s love and devotion to Jesus knew no bounds.

The final thing though is that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. This was an expensive, beautifully scented perfume and everyone was blessed by the wonderful smell.

Too often I think our worship, devotion and love for Jesus is fairly muted and maybe we need to become more extravagant in expressing what we feel on the inside. Too often we let embarrassment, what other people think or just good old respectability get in the way. Let us be those who from a heart of deep thankfulness and love give ourselves extravagantly to Jesus. Everyone will be blessed and the house will be filled with the fragrance of our worship and devotion.