The Intense Heart of a True Worshipper
Mary: An Appreciation
By Cara Baker
December 11, 2000
People
pressed all around Him. Hands reached out for Him, children grabbed His ankles.
The sun bare down on His hot, leathery flesh as Jesus and His disciples walked
the streets of Nain.
The
crowd grew as rumors circulated about the man who raised a centurion’s servant
from the dead just yesterday in Capernaum. As the day progressed, one by one
Jesus touched diseased bodies, healed blind eyes and delivered possessed minds.
After
walking miles in the heat among the people, a Pharisee invites Jesus and the
disciples to dinner. Jesus agrees, hoping for a moment to relax. Others from the
crowd follow them.
They
arrive at the house. People file in, carelessly bumping Jesus as He stoops to
unlatch His sandals at the door. He sighs as He slips them off His calloused
feet. Dust is mixed with animal dung from the filthy roads they shared with
camels and donkeys. He winces as He wipes His feet on the thatched rug inside
the door.
The
rest of the disciples talk and laugh at the crowd’s reactions to Jesus’
miracles that day as the Pharisee’s servants rush to wait on them with drink
and food. Normally, the lowest servant in the house comes around to wash the
feet of his masters’ guests.
Yet all the servants are busy in the kitchen preparing a feast for the most
popular guys in town.
Alone
in a corner, Jesus slumps in a chair, takes a deep breath and closes His eyes.
He can’t seem to clear His mind. Earlier, men in the crowd badgered Him with
questions like, “Are you the one John the Baptist told us to look for, or
should we look for another?” These questions mix with images of the faces of
the sick and mentally ill reeling through His mind.
Suddenly
He feels a soothing warmth pouring over His head. He opens His eyes to see His
friend Mary kneeling in front of Him. In her hands is an expensive box of
alabaster, its contents dripping through her fingers like honey. When her eyes
meet His, they fill with tears. She pours the remaining oil over His throbbing
feet.
The
tears keep coming. She’s embarrassed, but unable to hold them back. One tear
after another drips on His dusty feet, leaving a cleansing trail and mixing with
the oil. She can’t find the words to tell this man how much she loves Him and
believes in Him. She hopes the tears will explain.
The
disciples put down their drinks and turn to see the disturbance. Indignation rises. What is this woman thinking? How
could she waste such an expensive ointment like this? Who does she think she is
to approach Jesus this way? They begin to ridicule her. The Pharisee of the
house criticizes Jesus for letting this woman touch Him.
Mary
looks into Jesus’ eyes again as she reaches up and unwraps her scarf. She
takes out the two slender sticks holding her hair at the crown of her head. Her
long black hair falls past her shoulders to her waist. She wraps her hair around
her fingers and bends to the floor wiping and kissing His feet.
Jesus
never takes his eyes off of her, but addresses her accusing crowd and says,
“See this woman? You didn’t give me water for my feet, but she’s washing
them with her own tears and drying them with her hair. You didn’t even greet
me when I came in to your house, but since I’ve been here she hasn’t ceased
to kiss my feet… Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you.”
Mary’s
extravagant act of worship still serves as an example of how sacrifice,
brokenness and submission please God. Some
scholars say an alabaster box and ointment was worth a life’s savings.
She offered this once-in-a-lifetime sacrifice with no guarantees of anything in
return; yet she received forgiveness of her sins and she won the very heart of
Jesus.
All
four gospels contain a story where a woman anoints Jesus with oil or costly
ointment, although the details vary. Luke portrays an unnamed woman with an
immoral past who performs this act out of intense love and worship and not as
preparation for Jesus’ burial, as is portrayed in the other gospels. In
Matthew and Mark, the woman is unidentified, but the setting is at Simon the
leper’s house.
In
John, the woman is identified as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, but
doesn’t mention an immoral past. Although John’s account seems to have lost
the precise context of the story, the emotional display of affection was
impressive enough to be included in the oral history of the early church.4
Mary’s
act was not a one-time emotional outburst. Her love was deep and she continued
to show Jesus love no matter the voices of criticism surrounding her.
In
Luke 10:38-42, Jesus visits Mary and Martha’s home. While Jesus teaches the
men, Mary brazenly abandons her traditional role as a woman and joins the men to
hear His teaching. Martha disparages Mary for leaving her alone to serve the
men. But again, Jesus commends Mary for her non-conformity and unabashed worship
of Him and allowed her to stay.
No
wonder Martha got angry with Mary. After all, Mary left her alone to wait hand
and foot on Jesus and the disciples. Martha was being responsible and doing her
duty.
But
just like Martha, we can get so busy doing the duties of a good Christian that
we fail to just take time to sit at His feet. Jesus commended Mary for her
desire to worship Him more intimately. A modern day Mary will take the time to
seek God’s face, to truly know Him, instead of busying themselves working for
Him.
Mary
shows a higher level of sensitivity than the disciples when it comes to worship.
She seemed to sense the importance of the time she spent with Jesus. It was not
time to resume the normal day-to-day activities of a traditional woman of the
period. Her heart as a true worshipper allowed her to block out the temporary
voice of critics and focus on the eternal love of the Redeemer.
Her
progressive worship style advanced the role and importance of women and worship.
Religious worship, as practiced by Mary, becomes an intimate act and not just a
works-based or intellectual and theology-based experience. And most importantly
to me, Jesus’ reaction to Mary makes me realize that no other good work or act
takes the place of pouring out my heart to God with uninhibited passion and
brokenness.
ninetyandnine.com
©
2000, Cara Baker
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Cara
Baker voted by absentee ballot this election from her temporary locale of
Cleveland, Ohio. She just bought her first ice scraper and is learning how to
drive snow-covered roads at 6 a.m.
3
“Break Open Your Alabaster Box,” by Kent Henry, Psalmist magazine
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