Fragrant Worship

We should ask ourselves three questions as we let Mary’s example of worshipping Jesus convict us.

1. Do we seek to worship Jesus in our personal and public life through actions of faith?

2. Do we seek to love Jesus inwardly through how we commune with Him as we pray and read His Word?

3. Do we also seek to serve Jesus, as we outwardly minister to those around us who are in need of physical, emotional and spiritual encouragement?

Another observation we can make as Mary is anointing Jesus is that John does not tell us that Mary made any comments during her anointing of Jesus. Very likely Mary was so focused on honoring Jesus she had no desire to speak words of any kind. You might say that she did not speak because her actions spoke louder than words. There is nothing Mary had to say. Her actions spoke volumes of her faith, love and willingness to serve and honor Jesus.

We should also appreciate in this account the impact of the fragrance of the spikenard perfume on people and the surrounding area. Mary chose her anointing oil perfectly. It was a pleasant aroma that permeated the room and filled the house with a pleasant and soothing smell. Everyone would have been affected by this fragrance as it traveled around the room, filling the house and very likely moving out of the windows and doors to be smelled by those gathering outside. Fragrances are very enticing and as soon as we smell them we remember past experiences, moments of pleasure and seasons in time. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 tells us that because we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior we have a “spiritual aroma” about us.

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life….”

Because we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior (1 John 1:9) and as we continue to walk as He walked (Ephesians 5:8, 2 Peter 1:10-11), as well as strive to keep in step with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-18) the witness of our life is a fragrant aroma to others. It illustrates to those we come in contact with what having a relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit is all about. The world longs for the fragrance of Christ. Many people, whether they admit it or not, desire to have people like Mary come into their life and not only share the gospel, but model the life of Jesus Christ as well.

John 12:4-6

The Confrontation of Self Worship and Godly Worship

“4 But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, 5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?"

The first words spoken by Judas are recorded here in this verse and these are words of complaining criticism. In Matthew and Mark we are also told that all of the disciples agree with Judas’ statement and respond with indignation at the thought of wasting such a costly perfume in this action by Mary. This tells us something about the spiritual condition of not only Judas, but also the disciples. John tells us the motives behind Judas’ statement in the next verse, but why did the disciples respond in such a way? Possibly this reveals something of their spiritual condition. Were they critical because they really thought it a waste of money to anoint Jesus with such costly perfume? Were they agreeing with Judas because of Mary’s worshipful actions and felt intimidated and guilty that they had not initiated such worship themselves? Sometimes when others act more like Christ than ourselves, our fleshly pride can stimulate us to be critical of others. We can feel threatened because we have not responded in love or godly in action; and so to compensate for lack of spiritual action we seek to demean and put down the good actions of those that do. These observations may convict any one of us to evaluate our own spiritual condition at times.