The Fragrance of her Perfume

Lesley Warren

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (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.) Jesus said, ‘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 12.1-8

The sisters Mary and Martha and their brother, Lazarus, appear in all four Gospels and seem to embody the life of faith. It was when he was a guest in their home in Bethany that ‘Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.’

Jesus answered Martha’s reproach of her sister Mary, for not helping with the work of hospitality: ‘Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

In John 12 it is Mary’s complete absorption in his message, in what she obviously recognises as Jesus’ last days, and her devotion in providing the materials with which to anoint him for his burial that are compelling. She is the still point amid the bustle of a meal and its surrounding conversation. Unselfconsciously she performs the menial task of washing a guest’s feet and makes the shocking choice of uncovering and untying her hair to do so.

In all four gospels Mary’s devotion to Our Lord is apparent in the humility and extravagance of her action. Matthew describes ‘the disciples’ and Mark ‘some who were there’ as being angry and reproaching Mary for ‘this waste’. That amount of nard would have cost the equivalent of a year’s wages for an ordinary working man. Luke’s account has the host privately scorning Jesus for not recognising ‘what sort of woman this is’ but in all three gospels Mary’s actions are defended and Jesus declares that her actions ‘will be told of her’. All four gospels record an account of a woman anointing Jesus but there are differences between them and only in John is she named Mary.

The context of this story is interesting. In chapter 11, John has described the raising of Lazarus and Martha intervening with, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’

In the next chapter of his gospel John recounts the action of Our Lord in washing the disciples’ feet before the Last Supper:  ‘If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.’

‘A new commandment… that you love one another as I have loved you.’

Jesus loves his disciples such that he – their Lord and Master - did not avoid even the menial task of washing their feet. 

And the next day he died for us. 

Smells are evocative: from the myrrh and frankincense over which Our Lady pondered, through this account, to our use of incense for holiness in worship.

There is no mention of the smell of Mary’s nard in any other than John’s gospel where ‘The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.’