John 12:3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Worship is all about beauty. When something is striking we can’t help ourselves; beauty and greatness turns us all into worshippers. I guess one of the challenges in life is this, not everybody can see or even notice beauty. When I was a child there was a big national campaign about littering; ‘don’t be a litterbug’. As a child I didn’t notice the natural beauty of God’s world all around me, not littering was just a rule that I learned to obey. Today, I see God’s beauty all around me, throwing trash on His creation would be sort of unthinkable to me. In the same way, spiritual perception enables us to see the beauty of Christ. Not worshipping Him in His greatness is also unthinkable; ignoring His beauty would be like throwing filth on Him, that is quite inconceivable. Mary had seen the beauty of Christ that others around her were blind to, pouring out her heart in worship was her natural and appropriate response. Here are some thoughts from Jonathan Edwards on Mary’s act of worship.
“The sweet ointment poured forth out of Mary’s box on the head of Christ, was a type of true grace and divine love flowing forth out of the heart of the true believer towards Jesus Christ. Grace in Scripture is often compared to oil or ointment…. As Mary’s ointment was very precious and costly, so is that grace that is in the heart of a saint. It is a most precious thing and very costly. It cost a great price. All the silver and gold in the world would not have purchased it. It cost Christ’s precious blood. Mary poured her sweet ointment upon Christ; so does the grace that is in the heart of a saint, when in exercise, flow out to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Have you been changed from a spiritual litterbug into a worshipper of the beauty of the Lord? Judas and the other disciples had seen what Mary had seen, her actions seemed incomprehensible to them. Actually, pouring out that expensive perfume seemed like a waste. We all often find ourselves in Mary’s shoes, we are pouring out our hearts in worship surrounded by litterbugs that are just polluting the atmosphere. Don’t be a litterbug!!!