"Extravagant Love " John 12:1-11

On the day after Valentine's Day, we see an example in this passage of extreme devotion. The pint of pure nard was extremely valuable and was often passed on to a young woman as her dowry. To break it as she does would mean it could only be used once. The scene must have moved those who were in the house and at the same time made them uncomfortable - talk about extreme vulnerability.

John's description of Judas is the most hostile of the disciples (noting that his betrayal was really just the worst of the many ways he looked out for #1 at the expense of others). But Judas is right. The act is gratuitous, a waste of something valuable than will never be able to be recovered. This act was irrational. The place was overcome with the smell of the perfume in an enclosed place. But where there is love, there is unnecessary and gratuitous expense with irrational behaviors! Few prospective grooms can really afford the ring they buy for their fiancee and few families can afford the expense of a wedding. We do crazy things for love.

Might I suggest that this is exactly the way God has loved us. John writes in the first of his letters in chapter 3, verse 1,

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!"

You and I are daily recipients of God's "over the top" love, even though sometimes we are not responsive to it at all.

One of the great questions in this passage is "What if Jesus had not honored the gift and instead pronounced judgment on it the way that Judas did?" But Jesus honors her gift. The words he says in verse 8 can be disturbing,

"You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

It would be a misunderstanding and a denial of the rest of Christ's ministry to say that Jesus was okay with poverty. But he was saying that there are sacred moments when extravagance can be wonderful.

But the ominous part of this is verse 7, something Mary did not likely intend. He says it was preparation for burial. In truth, nard was one of the perfumes used in burial. This is a bridge verse that later becomes the focus of the next 7 1/2 chapters of the gospel.

I'm going to end the blog today with this story. Mary's devotion had a freedom and abandon in it that captures my soul. I want to be that fully devoted to Christ, loving with a reckless abandon. How about you?