Very Costly Perfume

by Hugh DeLong

In chapter 14 of Mark, we are introduced to two different worldviews: what is the most important goal of one’s life, and the resulting use of one’s monetary resources.

First, the ‘woman’, identified for us in Matthew 26:6-13 and John 12:1-8, is Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. She takes an alabaster jar of pure nard and uses the whole thing to anoint Jesus. Such anointing, Jesus said, was in preparation for his coming sacrificial death. Trying to understand the actual monetary value in today’s money system is always problematic (i.e., the value of a dollar in 1950 compared to such value today). So, the closest we can come is to note that a denarius was used for a day’s wage for the common laborer (Matthew 10:1-16 ). Doing so has yielded a value of nearly a year’s wages for such laborers. Depending on what you consider such a wage to be, it is in the many thousands of dollars!

She, possibly without a clear understanding of its meaning, was willing to use the whole thing to show her devotion to Jesus. He meant more than all of the worldly value of material things.

Then, contrast that with the reaction of Judas in John 12:4-6: "But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, 'Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?' Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it" (John 12:4-6).

The challenge for us is which of those two people expresses our view of Jesus and our ‘things’? If you had been in the room with Jesus, would you have agreed with Judas? Or Mary? The answer can only come from an inspection of how you are using your worldly possessions now. Be careful: this is not about how we are supposed to view them, but about how we are actually using and valuing them. Examine yourself.