Jesus Is Anointed at Bethany

Mary knows that Jesus is going to die. It’s imminent. And it will be sudden. It will be violent and, should it indeed be by crucifixion, it will be barbaric beyond words. It is an appalling, terrifying ordeal even to think about.

And Jesus will be totally alone as He faces this ordeal. He has come to die. He has come to save His people. Mary knows this. She also believes He will rise again. But, before that, there will be unthinkable physical and mental torture. Testing to the absolute limit of endurance.  And abandonment, even by His Father.

Understanding something of this, Mary brings to Jesus her most precious offering. She pours out over His feet the entire contents of her jar - itself made of precious alabaster, a hard stone, carefully crafted into a vessel for holding anointing oil. And the oil it contains is nard – a precious, costly oil used for anointing at death. In today’s money this would be worth thousands of dollars.

Mary is not trying to keep Jesus from death. But she is recognising something of the cost, the pain, the total self-sacrificing love and purposes of God, as Jesus, her Lord, approaches the most terrifying ordeal ahead of Him.

And by pouring this perfume over Him at this moment, she is acknowledging that, as He dies, so will He also come alive again and conquer death. He will not remain in the grave, but come alive. Mary has seen Jesus call her very own brother back alive again after death. She may not have any idea of how it will happen, but she knows that Jesus won’t remain in death.  He won’t need that fragrant, priceless gift of anointing oil after His death. So, she pours out now her all to Jesus, the Messiah, Son of God, Saviour.