Mary's way to Worship Jesus.

John 12:3 says, "Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus' feet with it and wiped His feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with fragrance."

I love this verse because it shows us an example of what it would be like to truly worship Jesus.

Prior to this encounter with Jesus and the perfume and His feet, Mary had a special encounter with the Son of God.  Her brother, Lazarus died and had been buried for four days when Jesus, a friend of the family, came into town to visit His friends.  When Jesus arrived He found the family and their friends all mourning the death of Lazarus beside his tomb.  Jesus walked up to the tomb where Lazarus was buried and yelled for Lazarus to get up and walk out.  Sure enough, the guy who had been DEAD for FOUR DAYS got up and walked out of the tomb ALIVE.

So Mary had every right to be grateful to Jesus, in fact, before verse 3 arrives we read that Jesus was in the families house because they were throwing a dinner party in His honor (v. 1-2).

What Mary did was an act of worship for the Son of God but I believe it also set the standard of how we should worship The Lord.

Mary takes a 12-ounce bottle of very expensive perfume, so expensive in fact that Judas becomes angry with her for wasting the perfume on Jesus saying that it was worth a small fortune and could have been sold and the money given to the poor (V. 5).  Now, I don't know how wealthy the family was at the time of this party, maybe Mary had 100 of those 12-ounce bottles but I have a feeling it was a big deal for her and the family to have something of such significance and worth in their possession.  So what's the point?  One of the ways Mary worships Jesus is with her possessions and finances.  This isn't about tithing or offerings, don't think I'm going to ask you to start giving 50% of your income starting this Sunday at church.  But it is important to notice that this is one of the ways she chose to worship Him.  And keep in mind, Mary didn't make a financial donation to the ministry of Jesus, she didn't give the bottle of perfume to Him and say "please sell this so you'll have money to travel more."  She took her most prized possession and used it to honor and worship Him.  She didn't give up wearing perfume for lent, she didn't sell the perfume to donate the money to Jesus, she didn't give Him the bottle, she took the perfume and poured it over His feet!

The next way Mary worships Jesus is with her beauty by sacrificing her beauty in worship to the Son of God.  Jesus more than likely wore sandals during this time in history, I can't picture Him being caught wearing the latest Jordan's.  So He's wearing sandals, walking around in the dirt and the sand and the heat and around the city streets all day long and who knows how long it's actually been since He was able to wash His feet and here Mary is taking her hair to wipe the feet of Jesus using the expensive perfume she just poured over His dirty, nasty feet.  I'd imagine Mary was a very pretty lady who probably took good care of herself considering the fact that she owned such an expensive bottle of perfume during the times they lived in.  Yet, despite her beauty, despite her financial situation, despite her pride, she worships Jesus by sacrificing her beauty to worship and honor Him.

The third way Mary worship Jesus was by sacrificing her dignity and her pride and probably her reputation.  In the middle of a dinner party, while the men are gathered around the table engaged in conversation, while her sister is slaving away in the kitchen preparing a meal for everyone to enjoy, Mary gets down on the dirty floor and begins to pour this expensive perfume out onto His feet, then she uses her hair to wipe His feet off causing her hair to smell like a strange mixture of nasty feet and perfume and getting dirt and sand and filth in her hair during the process.  But Mary doesn't care about any of that, she doesn't care what the dinner guests might think of her.  Her only focus, her only goal, her mission is to worship Jesus with everything she has.  Mary worships Jesus with literally everything, her finances and possessions, her beauty, and her pride and reputation.  She lays it all down literally on the feet of Jesus because she loves Him so much she has to worship Him.

And what is the result of her sacrifice and her worship?  The end of verse 3 says "...and the house was filled with fragrance."  I want to believe this was the presence of God, His anointing.  The bible talks about the presence and anointing of God being like a sweet fragrance and in Revelation it talks about our prayers raising to God like a sweet smelling fragrance.  I believe that a result of Mary's sacrificial and complete worship to and for Jesus was that the anointing and the literal presence of God filled that house like a beautiful fragrance.

The bible says in Hebrews that we should offering a sacrifice of praise to Him continually.  Praising God and worshipping Him should not be without sacrifice, it should not be on our terms and within our comfortable spaces.  Our worship of Jesus should be with complete sacrifice and with complete and total abandon to anything and everything.  Is He not worthy of such a sacrifice?

I will be walking this out as I learn how I can specifically follow this example of worship.  I believe it will be different for everyone but I also believe it is the necessary way to truly worship the One who gave His life for ours.