Prostitution was her means of livelihood and her way of life until the day she met Jesus. Encountering Jesus impacted her life like none other – Jesus had shown her a love that was foreign to her knowledge and experience. This unlettered rabbi from Galilee had opened His arms of compassion to her unlike any other, setting her free from a life of sin and shame. The dark clouds that once overshadowed her had parted, allowing the fullness of God’s love, mercy, and grace to warm and heal her mind and soul.          

Hearing that Jesus was the special dinner guest at the home of Simon the Pharisee, Mary dropped everything so she could go and do what had to be done – she had to show Jesus how much she loved Him.

Doctor Luke’s account of this incident (7:36-50) places us in Simon’s house as observers where we see Simon, Jesus, and a number of Simon’s religious colleges, reclining around a low-set table to share in the meal that would be served. Note: The intended purpose of inviting Jesus to dinner was so that Simon and his associates could conduct a close examination of Him, scrutinising His unorthodox actions and brand of theology through their religious lenses.

With brazen determination, Mary gate-crashed the party and upset several Jewish cultural norms… even so, nothing was going to stop Mary from doing what had to be done!

Mary didn’t express an apology to Simon for her shocking disturbance, nor did she seek permission from him to do what she was about to do. Knowing who Jesus was, and as a show of appreciation for what He had done for her, Mary knelt at His feet… kissed them, washed them with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with expensive perfume from her alabaster jar.

Mary’s great show of love for Jesus brought conviction and judgement upon Simon for his lack of love by failing to honour his guest, Jesus, by not extending to Him the traditional middle eastern courtesies of providing water to wash the dust from His feet, not greeting Him with a brotherly kiss, and not anointing His forehead with oil. This serious neglect was purposeful upon Simon’s part. If he intended to dishonour his guest… he succeeded!

Mary’s profound demonstration of love was not intended to expose Simon and his friends as being superficial and shallow hypocrites… they did that without needing assistance from anyone else. What Mary did demonstrated to every person present, and goes on demonstrating to everyone who has ever lived since that time, until today, how much she loved Jesus. Mary didn’t show her love for Jesus with a single word… as words can be cheap and easily misused. Mary proved her love for Jesus with her life.

Friends, how much do you love Jesus? Every day our lives answer that question.

Bill Joukhadar