“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “She has kept this perfume in preparation for the day of My burial.But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial.Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.Jesus therefore said, Suffer her to keep it against the day of my burying.
3 sermons cite this verse
We'll be considering most of John 12 today, but I'll only read portions of it for the sake of time. So please join me as I read John chapter 12, verses 1 through 11, and then we'll skip down to verses 20 through 26. I'll be reading today from the New Living Translation. Join me now as I begin at John 12, verses 1 through 11. 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. But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, That perfume was worth a year's wage. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor. 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. Jesus replied, Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. …
… Judas is the first to betray the silence with an ethical objection that clarifies his rightness in this matter. Why wasn't this perfume sold for a whole lot of money and given to the poor, he asks. John says he's a thief who uses the common purse for a common, for a personal expense account. He doesn't care about the poor, but he knows that Jesus does. So he says what he knows Jesus would have said if Jesus weren't so polite. What a waste. What an extravagance. Whatever you meant by it, Mary, this movement, it's not about us. It's about the less fortunate. Try to remember that from now on, huh? but Jesus can speak for himself he turns to Judas and says leave her alone to Judas and anyone else who might agree with him she was keeping it from my burial you always have the poor with you but you do not always have me it's an odd thing for him to say but Mary has broken more than a jar in that room she's also broken open the truth that Jesus is the first to see to speak to The poor are sturdy perennials in God's garden. …
Note that as she brought all, so she poured it all upon Jesus. She had no fear of the black looks of Judas, for the act was not meant for Judas—it was all for Jesus. I do not think she gave a thought to Martha, or Lazarus, or to any of them. The whole pound was for Jesus! The highest way of living is to live for Jesus and altogether for Jesus, not caring what this man says or how the other judges, but feeling that as He has bought us with His blood and we are His from the crown of our head to the sole of our feet, we, therefore, acknowledge no master but our Redeemer! Brothers and Sisters, do you live for Jesus in that fashion? Do we not perform many actions under the impulse of secondary motives? I like, for my part, sometimes to do an act of which I feel, "I do not consider whether this will benefit my fellow men. I am doing it only for Jesus. What comes of it—whether a soul shall be saved or not is not my main care—I am speaking this good word in His honor and if God accepts it, and it glorifies Jesus, my end is served." Oh, it is a blessed thing to feel that you are living, not as a servant of man, nor of the Church, nor of a sect, or party, but of Him whose precious blood has bought you! Concentrate all your faculties upon the Lord, Himself, and then consult not with flesh and blood. Mary did not wait for any advice about the matter. There is Jesus and there are His blessed feet inviting her to anoint them! She will not stop to enquire what Martha thinks, much less what Judas murmurs, but her heart tells her to do it. All her powers of love say to her, "Do it." And she brings out the costly perfume and pours it all on Him. When the criticism is given about the wasteful deed, she cares not to make an apology—and she needs not to do so. If for the moment the grumbling grated harshly upon her ears, her Master's look of love and that kind word, "Let her alone; against the day of My burying has she kept this," are quite enough for her. She did not aim at pleasing Judas and so, if Judas is not pleased, she is not disappointed! She did it for Jesus and Jesus, being pleased, she has gained all that she sought! Ah, Brothers and Sisters, this is what we must try to do—we must not always remain in leading-strings, asking other people what they think about our actions—if we know that a certain course is right, let us follow it and let others think and say what they choose! …