No waste in Jesus (John 12a)

John 12:1-11
Key verse 12:7

Welcome back to the book of John. We studied this book up to chapter 11 in the spring. Now we are resuming to this book. So far, we have learned about the seven signs. By these seven signs, Jesus proves that he is the Messiah, the Son of God. At the same time, Jesus continually mentions his death because he must die as the Lamb of God and then be raised from the dead in order to save the world. Now the time is coming for him to depart this world. From chapter 12, his death and glory are presented more in-depth.

In the first part of chapter 12, people honor Jesus though they don’t grasp the significance of what they are doing in connection with Jesus’ impending death. In today’s passage, Jesus is honored by Lazarus’ family. How do they honor Jesus? And how does Jesus take it? The title of my message is “No waste in Jesus.”

1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

The event in this passage takes place after Lazarus’ resurrection. (Chapter 11) It was near the Passover. Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem during his public ministry was recorded several times. This Passover would be his last one. On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus stopped by Bethany as usual. There, he had raised Lazarus from the dead. It was an amazing sign, which displayed the divine power of Jesus as the Son of God and also pointed to his upcoming resurrection. Receiving back the dead man, the family was overwhelmed with joy and thanks. They wanted to honor him by making a dinner for him. Let’s see how they honored Jesus.

2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

Martha served. It looked like she always cooked and prepared things whenever Jesus stopped by. Once, she was overwhelmed by the preparations and complained about Mary who did not help her. (Luke 10:38-40) But this time she served with full of joy because Jesus raised her brother Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was with Jesus, reclining at the table with Jesus. This was the Jewish way of having a meal together. They lay with their heads near a table and their feet extending away from it. They rested on one elbow and ate with the other hand. This way, Martha and Lazarus served Jesus. Where was Mary, then?

3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Mary disappeared for a moment and then appeared again to Jesus with pure nard. Nard was an expensive perfume imported from India. Jews used a mix of perfume and oil to anoint special guests as a token of respect or to embalm the dead body. The perfume Mary brought was about 0.5 liter. According to verse 5b, it was worth a year’s wages. It was a lot of money! What would you do if you had cash equivalent to your yearly wages in your hands? Let’s see what Mary did with this perfume. Surprisingly, she poured it on Jesus’ feet! It looked like she used it all up. Then she wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair! Pouring such an expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet was remarkable and also strange. But wiping his feet with her hair was much more since Jewish women rarely unbound their hair in public and never wiped someone’s feet with their hair.

Here we should understand why Mary anointed Jesus and then washed his feet. Because of a lot of dust, Jews washed their hands and feet very often. Usually, servants washed the feet of their masters or guests. If they hosted special guests, they anointed them on the head or feet with a drop of perfume and oil because it helped relieve them from the outside heat burn and also it has a pleasant smell.

Why then did Mary lavish such an expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair? We can surmise that she did so in token of thanks for what Jesus had done for her brother and for her family. But it seemed to be unreasonable. She could have given the perfume to Jesus so that he could use it later when he needed something. But what was certain was that she wanted to give him her best to honor him to the maximum degree. Her action was beyond simple appreciation or reasoning. In fact, she was worshiping Jesus.

By pouring the perfume lavishly, she gave her full devotion and love. By wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair, she showed her unworthiness and humility but with deep respect and love. Even before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, she knew that Jesus is the Messiah. But after Lazarus’ resurrection, she came to know certainly that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, the Son of God. With her personal experience with Jesus and with his power and love for her family, she could not but honor him and worship him as the Son of God. To her, even such an expensive perfume was not much for Jesus. Rather, she overjoyed at giving him the best she had. She was happy even though she humiliated herself, using her hair as a towel to wipe Jesus’ feet. This was the best she could do to honor Jesus the Son of God. We can see her love for Jesus, her devotion to Jesus, and her worship to Jesus. In other words, since she knew who Jesus is and what he had done for her, she honored Jesus as God with love, humility and devotion.

As Mary honored him, Jesus is worthy of all we have because he is God. And only those who know Jesus as God personally can give their best to him. Who is Jesus to you? How do you honor him? How much do you love him? Do you have joy in honoring him?

As Mary poured the perfume on Jesus’ feet, the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. It looked like the aroma of a sacrifice offered to God in the Old Testament time. But this was not the case for all people. Judas was one of them.

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”

Judas was one of Jesus’ disciples. Seeing Mary’s extravagant use of the perfume, he complained that it could have been sold for the poor. What he said was reasonable. She didn’t have to pour all of the perfume. Only a drop of the perfume was good enough to anoint Jesus. To Judas, Mary’s action was a great waste and she looked foolish. But the author commented that what Judas said was not what he meant.  

6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

In hindsight, the author said that Judas did not care about the poor but about himself. He was the keeper of the money bag but he used to help himself to the money. We can see a stark contrast between Mary and Judas. Mary gave her the most valuable and expensive thing to Jesus in token of her thanks and honor to Jesus. But Judas helped himself to Jesus’ money. Mary honored Jesus with humility, devotion, and love. But Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty silver coins (Matt 26:15), which had much less value than a year’s wages. Mary’s value was in Jesus whereas his value was in money and himself. Though Judas was with Jesus for about three years, he did not know who Jesus was. Rather, he valued himself the most and so put money over Jesus. But as you know, Judas’ betrayal turned out to be a tragedy. He hung himself after he sold Jesus. So, 1 Tim 6:10 warns about avarice for money.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Let’s see how Jesus responded to Judas?

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

Jesus said that he should not stop her. Rather, he said, it was intended that she should save. This verse is difficult to interpret accurately. Let’s see some other translations.

Therefore Jesus said, "Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. (NSAB)

Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. (ESV)

So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She has kept it for the day of my burial. (NET)

Based on these translations, I would like to translate the verse like this in my own words:

Jesus said, “Let her alone so that for the day of the preparation of my burial she may keep (observe) it.”

It is still hard to understand the exact meaning. Here “it” refers to the perfume, but we don’t know whether it meant the rest of the perfume (if Mary still had some perfume left) or the perfume already used (if she used up all). But it looks like she used up all the perfume. And it was unlikely that she knew Jesus’ upcoming death so she did not intend to prepare for the day of Jesus’ burial.

Whatever it might be, what was important was that Jesus appreciated and accepted Mary’s heart and regarded her perfume as the anointment of his body. In other words, Jesus pleasantly took her action as her love, devotion, and honor for him in connection with his upcoming death. Jesus was honored more than Mary had expected. His death was coming. His death would be horrible. He would suffer; he would be greatly humiliated; he would be abandoned even by his disciples; he would be executed as a criminal, and his body would not be properly anointed after his death. (Mark 16:1) Who would honor such a man who died on the cross? Who would know that he is the Son of God? But Mary knew that Jesus is the Son of God. She honored Jesus by giving her best perfume and her heart. Jesus accepted Mary’s action as preparation of his burial. He took all drops of her perfume. There was no waste in Jesus. There was no “too much” to him. As a result, her action turned out to be more than she knew and did.

I have known for a long time a couple who is younger than I. The couple gave up their opportunity in Korea to go to Brazil in order to preach the gospel there. Then recently they found out that the wife had pancreatic cancer. Because of their poor medical situation there, the whole family had to go back to Korea for her treatment. The diagnosis indicates that she is in the fourth stage. Medically speaking, she would not live long. Now she is struggling with chemotherapy, a high level of jaundice, fever, and loss of appetite. Humanly speaking it is sad. Though they spent their youth in Brazil as missionaries, the result is not what they had expected. Yet, the wife said, “Don’t be sad. I am ready to go to the Lord.” She has no regrets. She even smiles in the hospital bed. It is because her labor for the Lord is not in vain. She has given her best to Jesus and honored him. And Jesus has taken it and used it so preciously. Some of her Bible students have grown well and established house churches. Now her faith encourages many people around her, including me.

We give and serve Jesus because he is the Son of God and he has saved us and called us for his kingdom. Sometimes we think our labor is a waste, seeing our unfruitfulness and difficulties. Yet, Jesus never wastes even one drop of our sweat and tear for him. As he blessed Mary’s offering, he blesses and uses preciously our labor and offering for him. There is no waste in Jesus. What we do for his honor is never wasted. We will be very surprised when we see our Lord at the day because he knows and remembers all our offering, struggle, labor, pain, and frustration. It is pleasing to him because we honor him.

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

Jesus, however, did not oppose what Judas said. He agreed that they should take care of the poor. But there was a timing issue. Now was the time for them to honor Jesus’s death first. They could always help the poor but they could no longer have Jesus since he would die and ascend into heaven soon. Likewise, when Jesus needs us, we should respond to him first. There is a time to study; there is a time to work; there is a time to marry; there is a time to die. But you should not miss the time to honor Jesus. You should give your best to him first especially when you are still young. Otherwise, you will regret it.

9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

There were other kinds of people in response to Lazarus’ resurrection. Knowing that Jesus was in Bethany, a large crowd of Jews came there to see Lazarus as well as Jesus. Because of this, the chief priest tried to kill Lazarus as well lest that more Jews would believe in Jesus.

In today’s passage, Jesus is honored by Lazarus’ family, particularly by Mary’s love and devotion. Jesus said that her perfume was for his burial. By saying this, Jesus meant that his death was coming soon, which is also implied in verse 1. It was six days before the Passover. Jesus would die as the Pascal lamb (1:29). But his death would be glory to God.

Overall, there is one message the author is trying to deliver: Jesus was honored by Mary who loved him so much, lavishing her expensive perfume on his feet, which he regarded as the anointment of his dead body. This indicated that Jesus’ death would be honored and pleasing to God like perfume. In fact, the rest of this book describes Jesus’ departure as glory to him and God.

We can also learn that Jesus is worthy of all our best and he should be honored with all our best. That is the right way of serving him and that should be the believers’ value system. And this should be your joy and my joy. God is honored when we give him our best, even if it looks small, wasting, or weird to worldly people. Your Bible study, your dedication to the Sunday worship service, your daily bread, your prayer, your offering, your cooking, your washing dishes, and all you are doing for the Lord is not a waste. Jesus takes our heart for his honor for sure. God bless your labor for the Lord.

by David Yun