John 12:3-8
3 Then Mary took a pound of fragrant oil—pure and expensive nard—anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped His feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4 Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Him), said, 5 “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it. 7 Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of My burial. 8 For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.“
Judas told everyone that Mary was being wasteful, and these resources could be put to a better use. We live in a time when our culture focuses on the reuse and recycling of many things. Even our time is precious. I saw a list the other day of key ways people waste their time.
They include:
- Worrying.
- Perfectionism.
- Electronic devices.
- Social media.
I can think of many more. I’m sure you can too.
But Jesus’ point here was that Mary had not been wasteful at all. As Jesus drew closer to His death, Mary had poured out a valuable and unrecoverable resource to honor Him. She had heard Jesus speak of His coming death and was deeply moved to help prepare Him for it.
Her time listening to Jesus preach wasn’t killing time. Her expensive and fragrant oil wasn’t improperly used, and this certainly was not an empty or meaningless act. Yet, from a worldly perspective we may understand the initial point made by Judas. Were these funds misused?
John addresses this as he writes verse 6. The Apostles found out later that Judas didn’t care about the poor. He carried the moneybag and regularly stole from it. Judas’ real problem was a selfish one. He was lamenting that he wouldn’t gain from this situation financially. So, he decided to ridicule Mary to appear spiritual and have superior priorities. He was wrong and Jesus told him so, publicly. Judas left this meeting fuming and went directly to the Pharisees to hand Jesus over.
In Luke 5:10, Jesus tells the Disciples that as they follow Him, He will make them “Fishers of men.”
Judas wasn’t following what Jesus had taught, where Jesus was going and what Jesus was doing in this situation. Everything Judas did here was a waste of his own time and energy. Judas wasn’t fishing for anyone; He was about to be lost. Unlike Mary, who would be used as an example in scripture. Forever.
If anyone tells you going to Church is a waste of time, reading your Bible is meaningless or time in prayer is empty, I hope you will remember this passage. As you follow Jesus, He will tell you how to give of your time, money, and resources. Nothing you give to Him is ever wasted. Honor Him in all your ways and ignore the world when it tells you, Jesus isn’t worth it.
There’s an old Hymn I remember from my childhood. The chorus goes like this.
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Serve Him with all you have. Not for your glory, but for His.
If you were encouraged by this devotional, head over to our website and track along with our current series on discipleship. We are going through the Gospel of Luke for this series of six messages, each with a study guide available. Every week I will be posting a devotional here that relates to the topic we are covering.
This week, It’s important to Learn More about Jesus. In the devotional above, who was really interested in learning from Jesus? Which person was being a true follower of Christ?
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