21 Days of Prayer; a Devotion on JohnSample

John 12 | Mary poured it at Jesus’ Feet and wiped his feet with her hair.

Tradition has long triangulated several gospel moments and suggested that Mary was a prostitute, perhaps the woman ‘caught in adultery’ in John 8, thrown by Pharisees at his feet as he said he didn’t condemn her. This Mary has been identified with Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha who sat at Jesus’ feet in adoring attention as he taught, and as Martha got annoyed that she wasn’t helping out in the kitchen. Here she is again, at his beautiful feet, giving her all to him who gave her dignity. Her wealth, stored in a bottle of prized pure Nard, perhaps bought with indecent earnings, previously used to cover the scent of shame, now poured out lavishly in worship on Jesus. Her hair let down – utterly unthinkable in her middle eastern culture, yet part of what men thrilled to pay for – wiping Jesus’ feet – her glory given to him. There at his feet she gave it all to him, her prized possession, her considerable wealth, her physicality in expression, her heart in love. And was she one of the women, there, at the foot of the cross, at the feet of Jesus, when he gave his all for her?