Weighing the Cost of Following Jesus {John 12}
9:00 AMScripture Passage for today is John 12: 1-11
I’ve always marveled at Mary’s tenacious act here in verses 1-11 and
wondered if I would have been so bold had I been in the room that day.
Watchman Nee, the late Chinese preacher, points out in his pamphlet titled, Why This Waste, that by looking at this story in the other gospels, we can tell that all the disciples joined Judas in scolding Mary for wasting this expensive perfume on Jesus when it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. But Jesus defended Mary by replying (Matt. 26:13), “Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”
John goes on in the rest of chapter 12 to contrast Mary’s act of devotion with not only Judas’
self-centered focus, but with the evil plans of the chief priests and Sanhedrin, who now not
only want to kill Jesus, but Lazarus also, whose resurrection has caused many to believe in Jesus.
Nee also adds (and this is what started me thinking...),
“Several days after Mary broke the alabaster box and poured the ointment on Jesus’ head, there were some women who went early in the morning to anoint the body of the Lord. Did they do it? Did they succeed in their purpose on that first day of the week? No, there was only one soul who succeeded in anointing the Lord, and it was Mary, who anointed Him beforehand. The others never did it, for He had risen. Now I suggest that in just such a way the matter of time may be important to us also, and that the whole question for us is: what am I doing to the Lord today?”
In light of Mary’s costly act and Judas’ and others reactions
to Jesus here in this chapter, plus what Jesus explains in John 12:25,
“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life
in this world will keep it to life eternal.”
And also in Mark 8:35-36,
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does
it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”
I thought a good theme or summation for this chapter would be something like:
A life spent in complete devotion to Jesus is never wasted, but a life spent on self is a total waste!
For we know that Judas will go on to greedily sell Jesus for a small pittance, and take his own life very shortly after.
If only we could stop here! But there is another theme that seems to resonate with Mary's actions, and that is:
Selfless devotion to Jesus is costly.
Mary’s anointing Jesus with this perfume was costly in at
least three ways that I can see:
1.) Selfless Devotion can Cost Us Financially:
The perfume she used was very expensive, which made me wonder just how much am I willing to part with for Jesus' sake?
2.) Selfless Devotion can Cost Us Socially
Like Mary, we may be called to do things that others won't understand at the time and may even face criticism for it. Are we willing to set our pride aside to follow completely, or do we still care too much about what others might think?
In closing, I want you to see something I found in what Jesus said as He defended her from the others, “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” (John 12:7 emphasis mine)
Did Mary know about Jesus’ death? Whenever
we encounter Mary in the gospels we see she was always at Jesus’ feet! Did she know more than His own
disciples at this time? That’s a question I’d love to ask her one day.
I truly believe it was her personal knowledge of Jesus, gained
by sitting at His feet that led her to this selfless act of devotion,
and the beautiful fragrance of that act filled the room so that everyone that was
there was impacted by what she did and thousands of years later we are still marveling over it.
I would love to be like Mary. I would love my devotion to my
Savior and Lord to impact everyone I come in contact with, and now I know if anyone is to be like her we must start by spending time sitting at His feet.
Blessings,
sue
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