Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” —Luke 7:44-47
Mary loved Jesus extravagantly. Knowing that He was about to give His life—an extravagant gift unmatched in all history—she determined to give all that she had as a suitable response (Mark 14:8). Her moment came when all were gathered at Simon the leper’s house for a supper prepared in Jesus’s honor. Without warning and without a word, she rushed into the room, broke open the precious bottle of perfume, and poured it on Jesus’s head. Her entire inheritance was gone in a moment. In our day, the Holy Spirit is emphasizing the anointing that was upon Mary of Bethany, which is the anointing to “waste” our lives on one thing: extravagant devotion to Jesus Christ. It is the anointing to linger long with an engaged spirit in the presence of the Lord. This is impossible to do with religious self-determination and the power of the flesh. The abandonment flows out of a lovesick heart.
{ PRAYER STARTER }
Father, when I am tempted to withhold myself from giving all to You, or begin to criticize the extravagance of one of Your children, remind me of Mary’s loving devotion and her gift to Your Son. Make me like her, Father.
The Lord established Mary’s life and this one moment
as a picture of God’s delight in our
extravagant devotion.
