Poured Out

Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.

                                                                                                                John 12:3

Mary gave Jesus a financially costly gift. In John 12:5, Judas observes that the perfume was worth a year’s wages. As I consider what my most recent W-2 shows my wages to be, it gives me a sense of just what Mary gave to Jesus.

Her gift was unconditional. She did not simply hand Jesus the jar of perfume; she poured it out on his feet. It was unrecoverable.

But this gift was more than a financial commitment. Mary gave Jesus her life, her future. I’ve heard that the perfume likely represented her dowry, and was required if Mary was to be married. Marriage was the only hope of security for women of that time. So Mary sacrificed her future security because of her love for Jesus. She put her whole future in Jesus. She abandoned herself to God, pouring out her life as the perfume ran over Jesus’ feet and onto the floor of the house.

Do I love Christ this much? Can I give everything I have, my material goods, my whole self, and my future to God, poured out in an unrecoverable gift? Do I trust Jesus that much?