John 11:55 It was now almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration, and many people from all over the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early so they could go through the purification ceremony before Passover began. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, but as they stood around in the Temple, they said to each other, “What do you think? He won’t come for Passover, will he?” 57 Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly ordered that anyone seeing Jesus must report it immediately so they could arrest him.
John 12:1 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
observation
Every good Jew is making their way to Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration, people are wondering if Jesus is going to be there, would he dare to come around here when all the religious leaders are trying to arrest him.
Jesus is going to the Passover and on his journey he stops at Bethany, just a short distance from Jerusalem, where he is invited to a dinner party at the home of Simon the former leper (Matthew 26:6).
Simon, out of contempt for Jesus had committed some social blunders, he had not given Jesus any water to wash his feet, nor had he given him a drink of water and he certainly didn’t consider anointing his head with oil. As strange as it may sound those were the three things that you do when your guest arrive, David even mentions it in Psalm 23:5:
You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.
What a contrast in the way Jesus was treated, Simon had no respect for who Jesus is but this lady has complete reverence and respect for who Jesus is and what he is about to do. In the morning when he wakes up he is going to complete his trip to Jerusalem, where he will be arrested, the crowd will sing his praises as he enters the city but later that night he would be arrested and everybody would treat him with the same contempt that Simon had.
application
He is my Savior and he should be treated with enormous respect, don’t forget he is the creator of the universe and he didn’t need to do anything for me.
prayer
Thank you Lord for loving your creation and for enduring the way that you were treated while you were on this planet.
