Oil on His Feet
John 12:1-7 Is a well known verse of Mary of Bethany pouring oil on Jesus’ feet before His Passion. This woman seemed to always be low at His feet when she is mentioned in the Bible. She was only focused and concerned on what Jesus was saying or doing. She simply believed He was who he said he was and hung on to His every word. She never addressed the poison of the religious leaders scoffing at her, trying to make Mary look lower in the eyes of Jesus. She simply loved Him, which led to her lavishing Jesus with fragrant, expensive, rare oil on his feet to prepare him for His passion and burial. She was on another level with Jesus that few could even grasp. She loved him truly with no other motivation but seeing Him and listening to His every word. I can just imagine the swirl of all the objection in the room as she poured this expensive oil on Jesus’ feet. The voices of the religious arrogance probably muffled out as Mary’s eyes met Jesus. Her adoration was offensive and she put it on full display as she adored her King that forgave much of her. She understood the Good News fully.
Six days after she poured the rare oil on His feet, Jesus would be going to trial after being betrayed or left by all His disciples, except for John, put through trials with the religious and then pagan kings. His flesh would be ripped open through whipping, his beard ripped out by his own creation, he would carry his cross on a very long road, being punched, hit and spit on along the way. I bet that whole time, he could smell the aroma of the spikenard that was soaked into his skin. I wonder if the wind blew as he labored up to Golgotha with His heavy cross on his open back, and the wind would push the scent up to his nose, and he could still smell the beauty of Mary’s love for Him. I wonder if He thought of that beautiful moment Mary knelt down to prepare Him for that moment, and if His heart was even for a moment comforted at the scent of the spikenard.
We can now, to this day, pour oil on his feet. Any day or any time, we can pause and think of Him, sing a song of worship or meditation on His goodness and pour out our love for Him. We can impact the heart of Jesus, pull on the hem of his garment, sit at his feet and adore Him. It doesn’t have to be polished or even pretty, it just has to be true from your heart. Jesus is drawn to messy and unpolished. He understands the human condition and will meet us where we are at, just as long as it is a true heart that is pulling on Him for Him alone. What else could we ever want or need as Jesus is everything. I pray hunger for Jesus hits your heart in a very heavy way today. I pray you smell the oil of spikenard and remember the story of Mary and Jesus, and how you can pull and love Jesus the same way Mary did for Him. To pull and love on Jesus while on this earth in all pain and suffering we endure day to day is the only time in all of eternity we have the chance to do that here. Don’t waste another moment. He is worthy of all our oil.
Lovingly,
Kristin Frontera