In Mark 14 we find the story of the woman (John’s gospel names her as Mary) that broke an expensive bottle of perfume and poured it on Jesus feet and then wiped it off with her hair. Mark reports some of the disciples (John [12:4-5] tells us it was Judas who was also the treasures for the disciples) complained that the perfume could have been sold and given to the poor instead of “wasted” on Jesus. It was said that the perfume cost a year's wages. In our modern currency, that equates to about $42,000 (the average income for a person living in the USA). Now that is expensive perfume in anyone’s thinking. Mark then says in verses 6-8: “But Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. Why berate her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But I will not be here with you much longer. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.”
Jesus remarks same callous towards the poor if you look at it at face value. But let’s look deeper. Jesus allowed her to do this act. Also for a woman to show her hair in public was a disgrace. Yet she didn’t care. It was customary to think of the poor at Passover time, yet Mary was thinking of Jesus. She heard the conversation around her, but yet her attention and focus was on Jesus. Jesus commented that she was doing a good thing for Jesus. What was the good thing? Jesus states that she was anointing Him for burial. But I also think her motivation was much more than that. I don’t think she knew what the next few days would hold for Jesus and His followers. Her actions were out of utter abandonment of self and what others thought to worship Jesus. She risked disgrace, humiliation, and being an outcast among the ‘elite’ followers of Jesus just so she could worship Him from the depths of her heart. Jesus didn’t stop her, He allowed her to continue and praised her actions as good.
Mary is an example to all of us. She gave her worship to Jesus just because of who He was and what He had done for her, not because of what the culture or society dictated she do. She didn’t listen when those seated around ridiculed her and scoffed. I am sure some even turned up their nose or turned their heads at the sight of a woman ‘wasting’ that expensive perfume. $42,000 would go a long way in providing for the needs of the local homeless shelter or helping a family get back on their feet. But it wasn’t the money amount. It wasn’t the fact that she showed her hair in public, it wasn’t the fact that she broke every societal norm to do this; it was all about worshipping the one that freed her from her life of sin. It was all about showing love to the one that gave her back her life.
Most of us think that worship is just singing a few songs or hymns and maybe raising our hands. If we see a person that dances or utterly throws off all restraint and doesn’t seem to care about what others think or are saying, we scoff and mock and even laugh like the disciples and others present at the meal where Mary ‘wasted’ that perfume.
Worship is not about us or never will be. Worship doesn’t even have to include any songs or instruments. It is all about the one that saved us from our sin, all about the one that died for us and set us free from the bondage's that weighed us down. The reason that Jesus allowed Mary to do what she did was because she was worshipping extravagantly, no restraints. She poured herself out to Jesus. This is what Jesus meant when He spoke to the Samaritan woman in John 4:23 “But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.” So here is the lesson: Always worship Jesus, worship God the Father in utter abandonment. If you want to dance, dance, if you want to jump, jump. If you want to fall on your face, do that. Just worship Him with everything that you are. Don’t worry about who is watching or what they might think or say. That is not truly worshipping the one that died for our sins in order that we might have eternal life. Don’t listen to the scoffers or mockers or those that laugh. Don’t listen to what society says to do in worship. Listen to your heart. How is it telling you to worship? However you worship, do it with all you’ve got, and your worship will be excepted by the One you are directing it to. And just like the woman who offered Jesus her most valuable possessions, offer Him what is most valuable to you, your life.
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