Mary Anointed My Head and Feet

Meditations based on readings from

The Story of My Life As Told by Jesus Christ

January 14, 2020

Mary Anointed My Head and Feet

Page 217

Matthew 26:6-13;

Mark 14:3-9;

John 11:55-12:11

In our reading for today the religious leaders are plotting to do away with Jesus. Mary, believing Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, allows herself to worship Jesus without inhibition. The disciples are grumbling about Mary’s extravagant generosity.

There is an interesting parallel between this gathering and an occasion when Jesus was in Lazarus’ home, as recorded in Luke’s Gospel. In Luke, Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening to him teach, and her sister Martha objects because she thinks Mary should be helping her prepare to serve a meal for Jesus. In John’s Gospel, Mary is again at Jesus’ feet, this time serving him as she anoints him for burial. I suspect the house was filled not only with the scent of perfume, but also with tension as the others witnessed Mary’s shameless, extravagant adoration and worship of Jesus. Judas is the one who breaks the silence with the practical observation that the perfume was needlessly being wasted.

Jesus said Mary would always be remembered for her act of adoration. Jesus’ recognition of Mary is also his way of emphasizing the great cultural reversal that takes place when the Kingdom of God is present.  Mary’s affirmation that Jesus was the Messiah stood in sharp contrast to all the men – the religious leaders, Judas, and the disciples – who failed, at that time, to recognize Jesus as the Christ.

There was quite a divergent gathering that day in Bethany. Lazarus, the man Jesus brought from death to life was there. Martha was there, working, striving, and doing what needed to be done. Judas, the pragmatic one, who knew the cost of everything, was there. The other disciples were there, in silence. Mary was there, oblivious of everyone else, giving her heart to Jesus.

If this had been your time in history, where would you have been? Would you have looked away in embarrassment because someone was so unrestrained in their devotion? Would you have concluded Jesus was more trouble than he was worth and abandoned him? Would you have given everything you had to honor Jesus?

My Takeaway: Today, perhaps more than at any other time in my life, we need a chorus to form and sing with Mary:

Lord, I Give You My Heart

(Hillsong United)

This is my desire, to honor You

Lord with all my heart I worship You

all I have within me

I give You praise

all that I adore is in You

Lord I give You my heart

I give You my soul

I live for You alone

Every breath that I take

Every moment I'm awake

Lord have Your way in me

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.