Read: John 12:1-8
This story is very familiar to me. I know, as a child, I didn’t get it at all! “Perfume in your hair,” eww. Then “wiping someone’s feet,” double eww! But now as an adult, I think I get it more. I have always identified with Mary. It might be because I portrayed her in “The Twelve Other Disciples.” She is a very cool character. She is misunderstood by many, including her sister, but not by Jesus. She is expressing her love and respect for Jesus, much like she did when she sat at his feet listening to him, much to her sister’s chagrin. She knows that he is the Messiah. She wept for her brother, as did Jesus, at his tomb. And now she has the audacity to “waste” perfectly good and expensive perfume to wash his feet! What she didn’t realize, or maybe she did, she was anointing his body for death.
Judas, oh Judas we know, Jesus knew but oh how shallow you must have looked, even then. You just didn’t get it! We don’t know how the others there might have reacted. They may have agreed with you but wouldn’t say it! This act of a simple woman set up a chain of events that we celebrate to this day. And Judas, as much as we malign you, played a crucial part in this story too. I also once played Judas’ wife in a play of the “Trial of Judas.” It illustrates the necessity of Judas’s actions. Thank you, Mary, and thank you Judas for the parts that you played in this.
Thank you, Lord! We should be so grateful for everything that happens in the time leading up to the death of our Savior. Just as we are so grateful for all our trying times as it helps us to grow in you and for you. Help us to always remember that when those times occur we know that you are always with us and will guide us on our path. Amen
Tracy Day
This story is very familiar to me. I know, as a child, I didn’t get it at all! “Perfume in your hair,” eww. Then “wiping someone’s feet,” double eww! But now as an adult, I think I get it more. I have always identified with Mary. It might be because I portrayed her in “The Twelve Other Disciples.” She is a very cool character. She is misunderstood by many, including her sister, but not by Jesus. She is expressing her love and respect for Jesus, much like she did when she sat at his feet listening to him, much to her sister’s chagrin. She knows that he is the Messiah. She wept for her brother, as did Jesus, at his tomb. And now she has the audacity to “waste” perfectly good and expensive perfume to wash his feet! What she didn’t realize, or maybe she did, she was anointing his body for death.
Judas, oh Judas we know, Jesus knew but oh how shallow you must have looked, even then. You just didn’t get it! We don’t know how the others there might have reacted. They may have agreed with you but wouldn’t say it! This act of a simple woman set up a chain of events that we celebrate to this day. And Judas, as much as we malign you, played a crucial part in this story too. I also once played Judas’ wife in a play of the “Trial of Judas.” It illustrates the necessity of Judas’s actions. Thank you, Mary, and thank you Judas for the parts that you played in this.
Thank you, Lord! We should be so grateful for everything that happens in the time leading up to the death of our Savior. Just as we are so grateful for all our trying times as it helps us to grow in you and for you. Help us to always remember that when those times occur we know that you are always with us and will guide us on our path. Amen
Tracy Day
