Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples (he who was to betray Him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. John 12:3-6
“The sum of ‘three hundred denarii’ (RSV), the value of the perfume, must not be estimated according to the modern value of an equivalent amount of silver but according to wages and purchasing power. One denarius was the daily wage given to a common day-laborer; three hundred denarii was therefore the equivalent of a year’s wages for a fully employed laborer (no money would be earned on Sabbaths and other holy days). The sum was enormous.
Either Mary and her family were very wealthy or perhaps this was a family heirloom that had been passed down to her. Either way, Judas displays a certain utilitarianism that pits pragmatic compassion, concern for the poor, against extravagant unqualified devotion. If self-righteous piety sometimes snuffs out genuine compassion, it must also be admitted, with shame, that social activism, even that which meets real needs, sometimes masks a spirit that knows nothing of worship and adoration.”
D.A. Carson in The Gospel According to John (PNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991) 429.
As the triumphal entry draws near this demonstration of “extravagant unqualified devotion” comes into view. I share it as today’s post to give you a sense of the size of Mary’s gift, which Jesus said would be remembered wherever the gospel is shared (cf. Matthew 26:13).
How much money could you earn in a year? Imagine giving that to Jesus as an act of worship. Sound impossible? I know many givers motivated by “worship and adoration” who have set huge giving goals and surpassed them faster than anticipated because God abundantly supplied.
Consider making a gift like Mary’s to Jesus to celebrate His death and resurrection.