Recklessly Devoted (John 12:1-11)
“I have one desire now — to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it.”
— Elisabeth Elliot (from Through the Gates of Splendor, quoting missionary Ed McCully)
John 12:1-11 is most often interpreted in light of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Yet, there is more to uncover in this passage than simply that.
What if this story wasn’t just about the one being anointed but also about the one doing the anointing?
What if it wasn’t just about Jesus but was also about Mary?
What if it also teaches us how to be a recklessly devoted follower of Jesus?
Well let's read it together to find out!
“Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” 9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.” (ESV)
In this story, we see Mary is anointing the feet of Jesus.
Now, washing or anointing the feet of a guest as they came into your home was a common practice in the ancient world and throughout the biblical narrative (see Genesis 18:1-5 for one such example).
Though, in contrast to what we see in John 12, it was usually left to a servant to wash and anoint the guest’s feet—it was not the host's responsibility. In the Middle East in ancient world, people walked everywhere. They wore sandals and their feet would become filthy from the sand and dirt. So, washing the feet of a guest was left to the servants, or slaves, of the household because it was one of the lowest tasks to complete.
Thus, Mary took the position of a servant in here in this passage. Based on the fact that Martha, the sister of Mary, is seen in the beginning of this passage as the one serving, the home where this meal is taking place most likely belongs to Martha as well as Mary.
That would make Mary a hostess.
Yet, she chose to become like a servant and anoint the feet of Jesus.
And not only did she anoint His feet, but she used the best and the most expensive ointment to do so.
As we can read in verse three, the ointment that Mary used was made from pure nard. In the ancient world, nard was a rare and expensive spice that came all in the way from India.
In verse five, we also read that the ointment she used cost 300 denarii. This was equal to about a year’s pay in ancient times. Scholars have noted that nard ointment could be purchased for less than 300 denarii, so as you can see, Mary bought the best kind of ointment.
Let’s stop here for a second and take a second look at what this text says.
The ointment that Mary poured on Jesus’ feet was the most expensive of its kind—which means that Mary gave Jesus her absolute best.
What about you….Have you given Jesus your best?
But wait there’s more…Mary did more than just give Jesus her best.
Sounds a little crazy, I know. But hear me out.
Mary gave Jesus her best whole-heartedly with reckless abandon. She did not care what others thought about her.
She was not ashamed to give Jesus her best.
In a culture where women didn’t wear their hair down in public and where women took a lot of care in keeping their hair nice for fear of degradation, Mary took a risk here. A major risk.
Not only did she pull her hair down in the presence of others, she used it to wipe Jesus’ feet. Talk about being scandalous.
Mary did not care how others viewed her. She only cared about pleasing Jesus with everything she had and serving Him with utter devotion.
This picture of Mary giving Jesus her best while going against a cultural norm made me think of a song by the worship band Rend Collective called “I Will Be Undignified.” The chorus goes like this:
“I will be undignified / And I will praise the Lord my God / With all my might / And I will leave my pride behind / And I will praise the Lord my God / With all my life.”
That's exactly what Mary did.
And that’s what we as Christians are called to do.
Mary is the perfect symbol for Christians today. Here in this story in the small town of Bethany, Mary demonstrates how to be a devoted follower of Jesus.
She shows us how to be undignified for Christ Jesus.
Mary gave Jesus the best that she had, and she praised Him with all her might. She didn’t care what society would think of her, so she left her pride behind.
The third verse of Rend Collective’s song tells Christians exactly how to live as a devoted servants to Christ just as Mary displayed:
“Everything on the altar now / I won’t hold back, I won’t hold out / I don’t care what the world may say / I’m abandoned to reckless praise / O my soul will not bow to the fear.”
Mary didn’t bow to fear and she obviously didn’t care what the world was going to say about her scandalous action.
So why do we care so much what the world thinks? Why do I care so much?
Why don’t we give Jesus our best? Why are we letting fear stop us?
Why aren’t we putting everything on the altar? Why are we holding back?
We as Christians need to be more like Mary. We cannot be afraid of what society thinks of us. Myself included.
My freshman year of college, I struggled with this a lot.
I was scared to try new things…and at one point, I was even afraid walk across campus because I believed that the people were secretly judging me.
While this irrational fear of mine is not as bad now as it was then, it sometimes still hinders me to take big risks for God.
So I’m not just talking to you here today, I need to listen to this message too.
If we want to be recklessly devoted to Jesus, then we need to stop caring about the world’s opinion because the only one that matters is the one that comes from Jesus Christ—He died to save us from the grip of darkness and He guides us like a good shepherd (Psalm 23).
We need to be more like Mary who unashamedly anointed the feet of Jesus.
We need to give Jesus our very best, but we need to not be afraid of how we look doing it.
We need to be undignified.
Sister, let's be recklessly devoted to Jesus together.
LET’S PRAY:
“Lead me, Lord, to the Rock that is higher than I. Let me hear your word, give me grace to obey, to build steadily, stone upon stone, day by day, to do what You say. Establish my heart where floods have no power to overwhelm, for Christ’s sake. Amen.” — Elisabeth Elliot
This blog post is adapted from a sermonette that I gave as a speech in a ministry/Bible class that I took in Fall 2020.