There is an interesting story in John 12 that tells about a woman named Mary who anoints Jesus one week before his crucifixion. The story says that Mary pours expensive perfume on Jesus’s feet (and other versions of the story include his head) while he was sharing a meal with some of his closest friends.
The text says, “Mary 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” (Jn 12:3).
Just after this, a few of other characters in the story give Mary a hard time because they felt she had wasted the expensive perfume (valued at three year’s wages!). Jesus then corrects those who are upset with Mary. Jesus explains that what Mary has done is not a waste, but beautiful. Jesus goes on to say that what she’s done is so beautiful that, “wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her (that part is in Mark’s version of the story which is in Mark 14:9).
It’s not often that Jesus says something like that! This story must have some special importance. At first glance, the story doesn’t seem that important compared to all the other stuff we find in the gospels like Jesus walking on water, calming the storm, casting out demons, healing people, and bringing people back from the dead. In fact, the story seems bizarre if you think about it. I would certainly have felt awkward if I were Jesus in the story. So what is it about this story that’s so important?
The importance of this story is wrapped up in the symbol of the perfume and Mary’s love for Jesus. In particular, the life-giving presence of Jesus emanates around those who love him completely.
This is a LOT of perfume that she pours out on his feet (and head). We all know that a little bit of perfume goes a long way. How about an entire pound of perfume? That aroma would certainly fill a room (as John notes). This potent, but pleasant aroma links back to the smells associated with worship at the temple in the Old Testament. The aromas (along with the lamps and bread), symbolized God’s presence. Like an aroma, he cannot be seen, but he’s there.
This aroma teaches us that where Jesus is, there God is also. Mary understood this. She understood that she no longer had to go to the temple and make sacrifices to be in God’s holy presence. If she was with Jesus, she was there with God himself.
More specifically, his presence is especially strong in and through acts of utmost devotion and love for him. She holds nothing back. She gives every ounce of the perfume to Jesus. This is evident through the fact that she breaks the jar open to pour out its contents. Not a dab, not a drop, or a spray, but the entire thing. This is a symbol of Mary’s complete abandonment and deep love for Jesus.
But why did she wipe his feet with her hair? Why not a towel? I like to imagine that she dried his feet with her hair because the aroma that reminded her of Jesus would stay with her, even after he departed (as he’s going to die soon, and I think she knows it). She loves him so much that she cannot bear the thought of being without him. Mary loves Jesus deeply.
It is here, in this place of giving ourselves entirely to Jesus that the sweet aroma of his healing and life-giving presence can be known by the world like a sweet aroma (2 Cor 2:15).
