Jesus Praises’ Mary for Doing a Beautiful Thing
Jesus Praises Mary, “She has done a beautiful thing to me”
John 12:1 reveals another time where Jesus praises someone. Martha and Mary are serving a dinner given in Jesus’ honor after he raised their brother, Lazarus, from the dead (wouldn’t you throw a party?). As Jesus, Lazarus and others are reclining at the table eating, Mary, overwhelmed with love for Jesus takes about ½ a liter of very expensive oil and is infused with fragrance and pours it on Jesus’ head (Matt 26:7) and on his feet (John 12:4). Then she wipes his feet with her hair as she pours her love out on her magnificent obsession! From our modern vantage point raw worship and adoration like this can seem almost scandalous – but it is absolutely pure! John points out that at this moment Judas speaks up in strange anger veiled thinly by religious pretext saying, “Why this waste?… this perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” John also reveals Judas’ hidden motive, “He did not say this because he cared for 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.” (12:6). Mark 14:5 gives more details, “And they rebuked her harshly.” Wow, it looks like Judas had encouraged some of the other disciples to join in attacking Mary for her open hearted worship of Jesus.
But what does Jesus do? He is amazing! He drops His shield of protection around Mary and lavishly praises her. I suspect Jesus was meeting this attack with equal force and volume… He is not a sissy. “Leave her alone… Why are you bothering this woman?” (Mk 14:6) Since we have a question mark at the end of the sentence we don’t have the possibility to see an exclamation mark. But I suspect it is there.
Then Jesus goes on, “She has done a beautiful thing to Me.” Now, that in itself is pretty amazing praise from the lips of the God-man! Wow, can you imagine it? He sees and values Mary’s love and sacrifice for Him! It is important to Him and He clearly vocalizes it.
But Jesus has more to say in the way of praise for Mary. “I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” Now that is really amazing if you stop to think about it. Jesus is saying He will setup a lasting memorial for Mary down through history for what she has done! That is seriously high praise for Mary!
When you think about Jesus and when you pray to Him, remember that He is filled with the desire and ability to praise everyday people that are responding to Him. The issue is not about who is perfect. No one is perfect but Jesus. Everyone sins… the Pharisees, the disciples and the everyday people. The issue that Jesus is concerned with is … responsiveness. Who is responding to Him? Yes, He calls us to obey, but not to earn salvation. We obey His commandments because we are saved, not to get saved. We obey to become more like the One we have committed to follow. The real issue, before and after choosing to follow Him, is … are we responding to His calls. And He praises all of us that respond in small or big ways.
Are you hearing His praise for you?