Mensa Otabil - Mary's Worship (10/14/2025)
John chapter 12, verse 3: Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped His feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Mary is Martha’s sister. We have seen Martha and her devotion to God, serving the Lord, providing food, and taking care of the guests at the party or supper. Then we see Mary; she’s also serving the Lord, but in a very different way. These two ladies are both devoted to the Lord, but they show their devotion in different ways. That is how the Christian life is-people show their devotion to God in different ways. Some are intense in one area and not intense in another. Mary’s worship is very spiritual and deep before the Lord, and it is most remembered.
The passage says that she took very costly oil of spikenard. The first thing the Bible introduces us to is the cost, the value, and the weight of what she’s doing. The weight of the oil is mentioned; it’s a pound. The quality is mentioned; it’s spikenard. Its cost is also mentioned. You see a significant figure in what she’s doing: it’s weighty, costly, and it is fragrant. She took this oil and poured it at the feet of Jesus Christ-a magnificent demonstration of worship and devotion. The feet of guests in the days of Jesus were not shod in shoes; they didn’t sit in cars. The feet walked, and so they were always dirty and needed washing.
Normally, when you went to a guest house, the first thing they would do is either get the servant of the house to wash your feet or provide you water to wash your feet yourself. Here, Mary goes beyond water to fragrance. She doesn’t ask a servant to come and wash the feet of Jesus Christ; she does it herself. She’s the hostess of the party and says, «I’m going to be a servant, and I’m going to take what is precious to me and put it at the feet of Jesus.»
Devotion to God sometimes requires taking things that are very valuable to us and giving them to the Lord, pouring them at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. When she poured this fragrance, she used her hair to wipe the feet of Jesus Christ. In Mary’s culture, hair represented the glory of a woman. A woman’s hair was her glory, so she took what was glorious, what was her attainment, and what was her pride, and put it at the feet of Jesus Christ. That is what true devotion entails. Everything that is valuable, weighty, and expensive is poured and lavished on the Lord. Not only that, we take what makes us glorious and stand out and also pour it at the feet of Jesus.
The fourth thing to note here is that the fragrance filled the whole house. What she did was so pervasive and effusive that the house could smell it. Not only did it fill the house; it filled the compound. It went beyond the house. Anyone who was walking by would smell the aroma of Mary’s fragrance. This means that the devotion we pour out before the Lord must be so strong that it begins to influence and impact other people. Others would know and, by our example, also come and worship the Lord. That is what Mary does before Jesus goes to the cross. Jesus later said that she did this in preparation for His burial. Mary was a devoted woman.
Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, all I have is Yours. Let the fragrance of my worship fill the world. In Jesus' name, amen.»
Well, I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.