Abandoned in love= Truly alive

Mary of Bethany is the focus of one of my favorite stories in the entire Bible. Many people use her story as a means of showing what wholehearted love looks like. Each time I hear this story, I connect with its radical nature. My heart comes alive when I consider her lavish offering and that Jesus took delight in it.

John 12:3 “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”

The scripture clearly reveals Mary’s considerable offering. This gift not only cost her in monetary value, but also in humility. She risked being misunderstood and possibly even reprimanded by others to pour this gift on Jesus. Her story is a visual of what each of us has questioned at different times in our lives. What does Jesus long for and what brings joy to His heart? In her story, we see the answer. Plainly put, He longs for a heart of abandon and a heart of affection all for Himself. He is jealous over us! He longs to be the center of our fascination. It was Mary of Bethany who chose wisely to pour all that she had onto His feet. Jesus’ response to her offering was this: "And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” Mark 14:9. Her action was both simple and profound. I often ponder in my heart; did she have a deep revelation of Jesus? I’m not sure if that is what happened or if she just caught a glimpse of something/someone that caused her heart to come alive for the first time.

In Song of Solomon 2:4, it says “As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste”. For Mary of Bethany, He stood alone among all others, like an apple tree of both beauty and nourishment among the trees of the forest. She risked it all and poured costly fragrant ointment over his feet and wiped His feet with her hair! This simple action was so absolutely radical and intimate in it’s nature. I don’t see any other pictures in the Bible that so clearly define “abandon". Matthew 26:8 says that even Jesus’ own disciples were filled with indignation and questioned ‘to what purpose is this wasted’. It’s amazing that even those closest to Him didn’t see the value of wasting all they had on Him. I desire the courage that Mary had. I long for the revelation that she had that pushed her over the edge into boldness. What she did was a natural overflow of love. 2 Corinthians 2:14 and 15 says: But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, Mary of Bethany was and is the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ through her simple devotion. I thank God everyday for this perfect picture that brings such clarity to me on my own journey of surrendered love. She was the fragrance… to the disciples and to all who have heard her story. When I consider Mary of Bethany and Jesus’ response to her, my heart responds with a thunderous “yes” to a lifestyle of abandon. My prayer for every believer is that each of us would have a resounding yes in our hearts to God. That, like Mary of Bethany, we would consider it an honor to “waste” our lives on Jesus.