Last week’s examined the tension between Simon the Pharisee and the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet. Today’s post focuses on Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet—the second instance where Jesus’ feet were anointed. The event happened at Bethany during a meal with Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with a pound of costly perfume of pure nard and wiped his feet with her hair. Judas Iscariot asked why the perfume was not sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus intervened, cautioning Judas.
The lesson of this passage is often on Judas’ greed and the depth of Mary’s love for what Christ is to the family. However, it is also a conflict scene because of the tension between Judas and Mary. As happens in many conflicts, a party is unaware that his or her actions or interests clash with the other party’s. In this case, Mary’s innocent appreciation of Jesus displeased Judas, who believed the expensive perfume could have been sold.
Setting
The story is recorded only in John’s gospel (John 12:1-8). It occurred before Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and six days before the Passover when Christ was crucified. The incident happened at Bethany during a dinner with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. The passage did not indicate whose house Jesus had the meal. This was unlike another visit where Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, which took place at Martha’s house (Luke 10:38-39).
When Jesus and his disciples were seated at table with Lazarus while Martha served, Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. It is not surprising that Mary anointed Jesus’ feet. In the previous visit to Martha’s house, Martha served while she sat at Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:38-42).
When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet, the house was filled with the fragrance of the expensive perfume. Judas Iscariot said: “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” (John 12:5). The scripture adds: “He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it” (John 12:6).
There are differing arguments on the worth of 300 denarii today. However, a reasonable opinion would be comparing a denarius with a daily wage. In biblical times, a denarius was enough to pay an unskilled worker’s daily wage. One recalls Jesus’ parable of the landowner who paid a denarius to all workers he hired to work in his vineyard, irrespective of the time of the day he hired them (Matt 20:1-16).
Since Nigeria does not operate a daily wage structure, I use the United States of America. As of January 2024, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. If one works 7 hours a day, the pay is $50.75. Hence, we assume that the daily wage of an unskilled worker is 50 dollars, and a denarius equals 50 US dollars. This means that 300 denarii are worth about 15,000 US dollars today. Using the average January 2024 currency exchange of N1,400 to a US dollar, 300 denarii amounts to 21 million naira.
Without a daily wage structure in Nigeria, one can also extrapolate the number of months from 300 denarii. Using 20 working days (excluding weekends) every month, 300 denarii equals 15 months. With the minimum wage at N30,000 per month as of January 2024, 300 denarii are worth about N450,000.
The response of Jesus
As stated above, Mary was unaware that her action clashed with the interest of Judas. In contrast to other conflict scenarios, Jesus rebuked Judas, saying: “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me” (John 12:7-8).
One is not surprised that Jesus rebuked Judas. This is because Judas’ interest in the perfume had underlying ulterior motives. Judas was in charge of the common purse of the disciples and sometimes stole from it. He asked that the money be given to the poor because he was likely the one to keep the funds while they were disbursed. By keeping the money, he would have stolen more. He merely used the poor as a disguise to steal more. Therefore, Jesus had to rebuke Judas because Judas’ interests clashed with his interests in being honest and truthful in dealings.
Second, Jesus rebuked Judas because he discouraged showing appreciation to Jesus. We recall that Jesus had earlier raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44). A great crowd later came to the house partly to see the risen Lazarus (John 12:9). Third, Jesus rebuked Judas because Mary acquired the perfume that would serve during Jesus’ burial—a necessary passage to manifest his resurrection from the dead. In the short passage, Jesus never spoke to Mary. He only defended her.
Lessons from Jesus
(a) Genuine expression of love can lead to conflict:
As good as love is, a genuine expression of love can lead to conflict because of third-party involvement.
Mary showed deep love for Jesus by anointing him with a costly perfume. But Judas was displeased with the action—a displeasure that could lead to conflict between the three because it could set Jesus against Mary, alongside Mary against Judas. Jesus’ strategy of rebuking Judas ended this possibility.
(b) Conflict built on falsehood is not opportune:
The tension between Judas and Mary was about her gratitude to Christ. Judas claimed his displeasure was because the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. However, Jesus knew he was lying because he stole from the common purse. Conflict is a clash of interests. Yet, when an interest is built on lies, it questions the morality of that party. This was why Jesus rebuked Judas. He simply had no moral authority to create tensions nor discourage a woman who was grateful to Christ.
(c) Conflict resolution sometimes involves telling a party the raw truth:
As parties in a conflict are entitled to their interests, a mediator must be cautious in the words used while communicating with each party to keep communications alive and avoid misinterpretation and prejudice. Yet, Jesus teaches us that a mediator needs to rebuke a party in some situations. Three conditions are discernable in this story.
The first is that the mediator must have moral authority or influence over the party or parties to be rebuked. Second, it should concern cases where parties’ interests are built on lies and/or hypocrisy. Third, there should be a danger to a collective interest or a common purpose. Jesus had moral authority over Judas, whose interests in the perfume were built on lies. The anointing of Jesus’ feet was in preparation for Jesus’ burial—an indispensable passage to the salvation of humanity.
(d) Jesus managed Judas irrespective of his corruption:
This is the only place the scripture mentions that Judas stole.
Considering that this occurred six days before the Passover when Jesus was killed, Jesus had tolerated Judas’ stealing for about three years in view of his betrayal of Christ.
If the disciples knew Judas stole, one could imagine how they felt that Judas stole and remained in the fold for that long. Jesus managed this tension. Of course, the other disciples would not be surprised Judas sold their master for thirty pieces of silver.
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
