29.10 | At the Feet

John 12:1-19

‘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.’

John 12:3

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The primary purpose of our existence, as famously stated in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is ‘to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.’

To glorify.

And to enjoy.

Before we do anything else, before we become anything else — at the core and centre of all that we are and do and think and feel — the primary design upon your life is the glorification and enjoyment of God. 

If we tried to hold these two ideas into a single word, one word flows easily to mind:

Worship.

Worship, for most of us, means something between song and Scripture, liturgy and prayer. When we think of worship, depending on our tradition, we imagine gatherings of believers, words that are spoken, songs that are sung, instruments that are played.

As Mary pours that pure nard¹ upon the feet of Jesus, we have among the most potent images in all of the Scriptures of what it means to worship. And, if the Westminster Catechism had things correctly, that means we have — in this image of Mary pouring costly perfume upon the feet of Jesus, and wiping them with her hair — a visual that is at the very heart of our primary reason for existence.

Let’s tease it apart a little.

Straight up, Mary’s worship responds. Her brother, recently raised from the dead, sits at the table among them. So deep is her gratitude that she’s moved to worship. She loves Jesus greatly because He first loved her.

Secondly, Mary’s worship gives. We find this one less natural to our contemporary instincts, for much contemporary ‘worship’ is centred around the experience of the worshiper. We consider ‘good worship’ to carry a strong feel-good factor, giving us a kind of spiritual shot of dopamine and leaving feeling better than we were. A consumer culture infects the Church with consumer expectations, to the distortion of worship from What can I bring to What will I gain? Many have fallen from the practice of worship because it ceased to deliver the results that they wanted from it. 

But Mary interrupts us, for her worship response disdains all ideas of her worship experience. Her worship response is not about something gained, but something given. It is bringing the best that she has, in an expression of love and devotion and honour of Jesus. No reader of this story leaves wondering at the quality of Mary’s worship experience. She is not the focus; He is.

And finally, Mary’s worship prioritises. Judas’ question (while drenched in his own corruption) raises a concern that sounds reasonable, and even righteous. 

Why was this ointment not sold and given to the poor?

But the difference between Mary and Judas is not one of justice or indifference, generosity or hoarding. It is one of priority. For the human is not primarily called to be a doer of good works, but to be devoted to a good God. To love the Lord our God as the preeminent commandment. To recall our first love. To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. A life of busy religiosity and seeming generosity can mask a Judas heart. For the follower of Jesus is so easily distracted by doing so many things for Him — often with zeal and passion and a side-helping of judgementalism — and yet all the while failing to recognise that the most essential mandate upon our life is that every act, every thought, every intention, every task, every moment and fibre of our beings is to be primarily directed towards the Jesus by who and for who we were created.

Worship.

It is why you were made. And everything else we will ever do or be flows from this place, at the perfumed feet of Jesus.

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Reflect:

Worship responds. Worship gives. Worship prioritises.

Which of these do I most need to recall today?

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Pray:

Lord Jesus,

To follow you is

To endlessly turn from distractions.

For sometimes I find myself

With Martha —

Busy in the kitchen once again,

And away from your feet.²

Sometimes I find myself

With those crowds —

Excited by your works,

And yet no more than a distant spectator.

Sometimes I find myself

With Judas —

Words that sound righteous

But that hide the angers and fears of a grabby heart.

And so, dear Lord,

Today I come,

As Mary.

To bring you my tears;

To bring you my best;

To bring you the gaze of this heart,

For you loved me first.

In Your Name,

Lord Jesus,

Amen

Old Testament: 

For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:

Esther 4-7 | Proverbs 26:22-27:2

1. Nard was an exotic perfume made from a plant that grows in the Himalayas.

2. The reference here it to another story including Mary and her sister, Martha. You can read it in Luke 10:38-42