ヨハネによる福音書12:1-8

John 12:1-8,

As the day of the Jewish Passover approached, Jesus was on his way to the city of Jerusalem. The Passover is a festival commemorating the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery and torment in Egypt. At that festival, Jesus was about to be crucified for the salvation of all the people of the world. In the village of Bethany, just outside the city of Jerusalem, there was the home of Mary and Martha, two sisters whom Jesus loved, and their brother Lazarus. (Mary, however, was a different person from Mary, Jesus’ mother.) Not long ago, when Lazarus was sick and died, Jesus performed a miracle to bring him back to life. Thus, he showed that those who believe in Jesus can receive eternal life.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus and his disciples stopped at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus to eat. Lazarus was at the table with them. Martha served the food and drinks. What did Mary do? Mary brought a jar containing one litra of very expensive nard oil. One litra is about 327 grammes. In modern terms, this would be about the same amount as you would find in a slightly smaller plastic bottle. Nard oil is fragrant perfume extracted from the root of spikenard plant. It is not a burning oil. It is an essential oil, a perfume containing fragrant substances extracted from the plant. The plant was originally from Nepal and India, and the perfume from its roots was rare and very expensive. Mary expressed her gratitude and love for Jesus by anointing him with the expensive perfume of nard.

When Jesus’ disciple, Judas Iscariot, saw what Mary had done, he said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” One denarii was the salary for a day’s work in those days, so “three hundred denarii” was a lot of money, equivalent to millions of yen. If it was that expensive, it sounds like Judas Iscariot was right. Judas Iscariot said this because he was the disciples’ treasurer. But in fact, he was not a good treasurer. He was a bad treasurer who had cheated the money entrusted to him and kept it for himself. And after this, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and delivered him into the hands of those who wanted to kill him in exchange for 30 pieces of silver.

Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.” At that time, the perfume of nard was applied to the body of a dead person to prepare the dead person’s body for burial in the tomb. So Jesus meant, “She prepared me to die on the cross and be buried for the salvation of my people”. Did Mary know that Jesus was going to die on the cross? She may have known it outright, but she did not know for sure. Even if she didn’t know, what Mary did was to prepare for Jesus’ burial.

There may be times when we do something out of love for Jesus that seems futile to others. But Jesus accepts our acts of gratitude and love for him. He uses us in ways that go beyond our thoughts.