Mary anointed the Feet of Jesus with precious spikenard. She had purchased the costly jar of perfumed ointment. Years of saving, making items and selling them for small coins at market, the saving of a price of loaf and fasting in its stead. All these things Mary possibly did, and saved for a rainy day. Then, in one magnificent gesture, Mary purchased the jar of spikenard.
Mary gave witness that Jesus Christ is Messiah. She anointed the Feet of Christ with spikenard. Mary wept with repentance and gratitude at forgiveness of her sins. She showed her love for Jesus by washing His Feet with her tears, drying them with her hair. Though Mary caused scandal amongst those around, and Judas was concerned at possible waste, Jesus commended her. Christ said that Mary had anointed Him ahead of time, for burial.
Such deeds of love are never a waste. Rather, they are spending our best and all we have on Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Fragrance jar of devotion
In quiet streets where merchants cried,
Where coins were earned with humble pride;
A woman laboured, day by day,
And slowly stored her gains away.
A loaf forgone, a hunger borne,
One simple dress, now patched and worn;
Small coins she saved from all she made,
Through heat of sun and market trade.
Through years of want, through nights of prayer,
She kept a treasure hidden there -
Not gold for ease, nor wealth for show,
But love that only Christ would know.
At last she found that costly grace,
Pure spikenard sealed in fragile vase;
A fragrance rare, a treasure bright,
The sum of years brought into light.
Then came the hour, the sacred place,
She stood before her Saviour’s Face;
And knowing Him, her heart laid bare,
She wept in love beyond compare.
Her tears fell soft upon His Feet,
Sorrow before Mercy complete;
For He had seen her hidden pain,
And washed her soul from every stain.
She broke the jar - no thought of cost,
No counting what the world called lost;
The fragrance poured, so rich, so free,
Her treasured act of dignity.
With loosened hair, she gently dried,
The Feet of Him soon crucified;
Her love proclaimed in silent art,
Outpouring of her grateful heart.
The room was stirred with whispered blame,
With judging eyes and words of shame;
“Such waste,” they thought, “So strange a deed;
The poor could have claimed this costly need!”
But one among them weighed the price,
With mazed thought and guarded eyes -
Judas spoke of loss, of squandered gold,
Yet knew not love so sure and bold.
Then Christ, the Lord, with gentle Voice,
Declared her act the truest choice:
“She has anointed Me this day,
Preparing for My burial way.”
No gift of love is ever waste,
When offered pure, though sacred haste;
For what we give with all our heart,
Becomes of heaven’s realm a part.
O may we learn from Mary’s grace,
To seek our Lord, to know His Face;
To spend our best, our all, our store,
On Him whom we are longing for.
For He is Christ, the Holy One,
God’s own beloved, eternal Son -
And love like hers shall ever stand,
Remembered in His saving Hand.
With thanks to Youtube
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