“Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he had raised from the dead. So they prepared a dinner for Jesus there. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was among those present at the table with him. Then Mary took three quarters of a pound of expensive aromatic oil from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus. She then wiped his feet dry with her hair. (Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil.) But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was going to betray him) said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor?””, John 12:1-5 NET
- I am thinking that Mary may have had a lot of money. The perfume she poured on Jesus’ feet was worth a year’s wages! Interestingly, I am just about positive that she obtained that perfume through her prostitution (and more than likely bought the perfume for her prostitution business) and yet Jesus doesn’t seem to have any problem with her pouring it on his feet. What I mean is that Jesus didn’t seem legalistic or scrupulous about certain matters, like I tend to be. I would have felt guilty about the woman wiping my feet with her hair and for the woman pouring perfume she obtained from prostitution on me.
“(Now Judas said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box, he used to steal what was put into it.) So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has kept it for the day of my burial. For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me!””, John 12:6-8 NET
- Perhaps Judas was able to steal some of the money from the money bag by taking money allocated for the poor for himself and perhaps Judas’ heart was really saying “I could have really used that money!”
- If Judas was so concerned about money, why was he following Jesus? I don’t think that was a very profitable gig!