A High Price 

            Just before the crucifixion of Jesus, He was in Bethany at Simon’s house with His disciples. A woman came in with an alabaster jar of very expensive spikenard oil (Mark 14:3). Alabaster is a white mineral and there are two kinds, one gypsum, which is very crumbly, and another which is a reddish partially transparent marble.  Spikenard is a precious perfume imported from India, made from plants that grow high in the Himalayan Mountains, making it extremely expensive.

            The woman who John identifies as Mary (the sister of Martha) broke the jar of oil and poured it over Jesus head and feet, and then wiped his feed with her hair. There were some there who thought that it was a great waste of money, and that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. They said it was worth three hundred denari (one denari represented a whole days wages). However, Jesus said that they have the poor with them always but that He would not be with them much longer.

            The disciples didn’t grasp the fact that Jesus was about to die, but Mary must have had great spiritual insight to realize this, and so she wanted to anoint Him for burial. The anointing was normally done after death, but Mary wanted to give her best to Jesus.

            Mary’s use of the expensive perfume underlines the great value of Jesus death—the high price He paid for us. He gave His all for us so that our sins could be forgiven and that we could have eternal life. He was the Lamb of God, he ultimate sacrifice for sin—all of our sin, not some of it, but all of it.

            It also points to the high cost of devotion to Jesus. He desires that we give our “all” to Him, and wants our undivided love and devotion, and that we put Him first in our life. 

             Jesus paid a high price on the cross of Calvary, and as His precious blood was draining from His body, He said, “It is finished”.  If we accept Jesus and what He did that day, we can be saved and have eternal life.

 He didn’t stay in the tomb, but rose on the third day, as nothing could have kept Him there because He is God in the flesh (see: John 1:1;&14).  He paid the ultimate price for us, so let us give our all to Him.