Day 12 – Feasting On John 12

It’s six days before the Passover. This will not be just any Passover, this will be the Passover on which Jesus, the Lamb of God is crucified, but it’s six days before this feast begins. Jesus and his disciples are at the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Without notice Mary comes with a pound of very costly oil. Next thing we know she is spilling this oil on the feet of Jesus and the fragrance from this oil has filled the room. If you didn’t notice her spill the oil, you can’t not notice the fragrance in the room.

The fragrance in the room demands a response from everyone in the room. Mary is using her hair to wipe Jesus’s feet; while Judas is demanding answers as to why this oil was not sold and the money given to the poor. The two responses are significant, one person spilled the oil another person wanted to sell the oil. Neither response is wrong, but knowing what time it is is critical to knowing what response is required. Remember it’s six days before the feast of Passover where Jesus Christ the Lamb of God is about to be slain.

The story has an air of drama about it, it causes our imagination to put us in the room with these men and women, it’s as though we can almost smell the fragrance they smelled. However the issue in the room is not a matter of who is right and who is wrong, but rather understanding what time it is in order to offer the correct response. Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us there is a time for everything. Judas was a disciple of Jesus who walked with him every day for three years. He heard all the sermons Jesus gave, he saw all the signs and wonders that Jesus did. And yet he did not know what time it was.

Before we go pointing our finger at others for a wrong response in this time, we should bend a knee and give thanks that the time is now to pour the oil on His feet, not the time to sell it. Many did not understand what time it was, but Mary did. If you know what time it is pour the oil on his feet so that the fragrance of that oil can fill the atmosphere. Maybe some will smell the sweet fragrance of worship and praise and recognize the incredible day in our in which we live, just like Mary did and just like some of us do.