When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Matthew 26:8-9
The disciples are in the midst of the most amazing time. It started off with a command from the Lord they feared – “let’s go to Bethany” (2 miles west of Jerusalem). This takes them to their friends who are in need but it also places them square in the sights of the scribes, rabbis and pharisees who are seeking to stone them.
When they get to Bethany they face the grief of Mary and Martha. “If only Jesus had come sooner their brother would be alive.” The disciples must have felt they could do nothing right. Then they watched Jesus face the mockery of the paid mourners – “how could He possibly think Lazarus was not dead?” From there they went to the pinnacle of amazement as they watched the Lord raise Lazarus from the dead. This would remind them that Jesus truly id omnipotent God, right?
Interestingly what the disciples feared, the wrath of the Pharisees, did not immediately happen. Unbeknownst to them, however, the raising of Lazarus had infuriated the religious leaders who intensified their
plans to silence Jesus once and for all. Knowing this, the Lord led his disciples away to a town called Ephraim where He spent private time with them before the week of His crucifixion.
After their time together the Lord leads His disciples back to Bethany. There another amazing event happened. Mary, the sister of Lazarus and the one who loved to sit at the feet of Jesus, appeared at the dinner. We are not told this in Scripture but sitting at the feet of Jesus must have had a profound effect on her. When she heard Jesus say He would suffer and die, she believed what He said. Perhaps she even grasped the significance of what He was saying from studying the Old Testament. We believe that because John records, “Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume”. Mary’s action is an act of worship and praise to the Lord. It is symbolic of anointing a Passover lamb to be offered as a sacrifice for sin.
John then records the reaction of the disciples to Mary’s offering to the Lord, her acknowledgement of who He is and what He was about to do. “But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”
What can we learn? Our eyes are on Peter and how he responded to this final week of the Lord. He feared going toward Jerusalem but the Lord led Him there anyway. Despite his objections he followed the Lord and saw Lazarus raised from the dead. Then he spend time with the other disciples alone listening to the Lord – what should have been a special time before the Lord’s final week in his life on earth. But Peter is like us. Living for the Lord every minute of every day is
hard. We get caught up in our own will and doing things in our own strength. At the home of Mary and Martha, Peter faces a test. A servant of God. Mary, praises Lord from her heart. She gives a lavish gift to the Lord. One of the “so-called” followers of the Lord criticizes her harshly. Peter fails in two ways. He shows no discernment to recognize what is happening but he also remains silent. Both actions show he is not walking closely with the Lord. The Lord warned his disciples about criticizing other believers for the way they worship the Lord. It is easy to walk in the flesh for a while.