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Of Perfume, Hair, and Gratitude

          Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 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.
         But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 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.
         “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.  You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” (John 12:1-8)
          If you’re like me, you’ve read this passage many times, and I’ve often wondered why Mary did what she did. I know Jesus said, “It was intended….” And that means she was inspired, but form a human standpoint, seems a little excessive as a normal “Jesus is our guest at dinner” thing. Today is the first time I’ve put it together with the verses immediately before it and that puts so much into perspective. Jesus had just raised her beloved brother from the dead. It wasn’t like all the other times He’d come to visit.
          How do you show gratitude, especially great gratitude? Gary Smalley wrote about how we express love: through words of confirmation, acts of service, quality time, physical touch and gifts. I suspect that gratitude is a type of love, so the same may apply. Like many social expressions of emotion, I’m not very good at this. The best I can come up with is loyalty – acts of service over time. Sometimes, I wonder if God would prefer I come up with something different. My loyalty is sometimes expressed in ways that are probably embarrassing to him. Then again, I’d find someone washing my feet with perfume and drying them with hair embarrassing, too. Maybe I’m in good company with the grateful. Or, maybe I need to learn to show more gratitude.


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