Wednesday: The Neighbor of Simon
A Seat at the Table
Where did I encounter Jesus? At a dinner, in the house of Simon the leper.
I had the fortune to dine with Simon, Jesus, His disciples, and a few others one night. It was truly an honor. Ever since Jesus raised one of our own, Lazarus, from the dead, many in our community came to believe that He was the Messiah. And so did I. To dine with this man from Galilee was an incredible privilege. I had never felt more honored, and at the same time, more unworthy.
Then, the strangest and most remarkable thing happened.
An Extravagant Anointing
There came a woman carrying an alabaster vial full of perfume. As she entered, the aroma of that perfume filled the entire room. I can still smell it to this day. I recognized the scent immediately because it was a very rare and expensive ointment—a scent of the affluent, of royalty even. You do not easily forget the scent of something that extravagant.
She then lowered herself to the feet of Jesus. Though she was not a slave, in that moment, she humbled herself to the level of a servant in the presence of Jesus. Quiet in her deeds, she poured out all that was in the vial and took her hair and wiped His feet with it.
It was breathtakingly beautiful. Such love. Such devotion.
I had seen something like this done before. I had seen women lavish kings with such fine gifts, or seen it used in the anointing of a high priest. And now, this very honor was being given to Jesus.
John 12:3 (NASB)
Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Outrage and Devotion
Many of the others in the room were quick to respond harshly, condemning this woman for being wasteful. In a single moment, she had poured out a full year’s salary worth of precious ointment onto the feet of Jesus. Even the disciples were indignant. Judas was the most outraged of all, claiming she should have sold the perfume and given the proceeds to the poor.
Mark 14:4-5 (NASB)
But some were indignantly [remarking] to one another, ’Why has this perfume been wasted? ‘For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and [the money] given to the poor.’ And they were scolding her.
But I recognized this act for what it truly was: a woman praising her King, her Rabbi. She had seen this man raise her brother from the dead, making his life new again. She had heard His teachings and knew them in her heart to be true. She knew Him to be the King, and as a King, she knew He could only be anointed with the finest of things.
How did Jesus respond to the outrage?
He said, “Leave her alone. She has done a good deed to me. For the poor you will always have with you, and whenever you wish, you can do them good; but you do not always have me.”
Mark 14:6-7 (NASB)
But Jesus said, ’Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me. ’For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.
The Fragrance of the Savior
“You do not always have me.”
Those words lingered in the air. There is only one other time I have ever seen such an anointing of a body—anointing the dead for burial.
Mark 14:8 (NASB)
’She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.
I had been blind to it. Many who were gathered there had been blinded. Even His closest disciples were blind to what Jesus was destined to do for us in a matter of days. Yet this woman understood. She had anointed her King and her Rabbi—and now, her Savior, who was destined for the cross.
The fragrance filled the entire house. And as it lingered, it no longer signified earthly wealth or worldly prestige. It became the fragrance of Christ: our King, our Rabbi, our Lord, and our Savior.