Bowing at the Feet of Jesus

Dannah Gresh: Her worship was costly, but intense love drove Mary of Bethany. Pastor Bob Bakke summarizes it like this.

Pastor Bob Bakke: She surrenders everything at the feet of Christ. She was a nobody who changed history with her worship of Christ.

Dannah: We’ll hear more about an amazing act of pure praise today on the Revive Our Hearts podcast for February 18, 2025. I’m Dannah Gresh. Our host is the author of Incomparable, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: A lot of us equate “worship” with “singing.” Certainly, singing can be an important part of our worship of the Lord, but biblically speaking, worship involves a lot more than singing, and it doesn’t just happen in corporate worship services. In the gospel of John, we read about a woman who worshiped Jesus in a home, in a way other than singing. And she did it extravagantly. Today we’re going to hear how costly her extravagant worship was. Let’s review our passage. This is Pastor Bob Bakke reading John chapter 12, verses 1–8. 

John chapter 12, let me read it in the NIV.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. And here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; and she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; and as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” (vv. 1–8)

Nancy: Yesterday on Revive Our Hearts, Bob Bakke explained many of the cultural dynamics that were at play in that scene—especially the fact that, in the eyes of some of those men around that table, Mary of Bethany was a social outcast. But . . . not in Jesus’ eyes! Let’s listen to the rest of Pastor Bakke’s message. He gave this to a room full of several thousand women who gathered at one of our Revive conferences. Here’s Bob Bakke.

Pastor Bakke: Now, let's study it more closely because there are considerations that bring us even deeper. First has to do with the nature of Mary's gift, because the scene at Bethany is worship at great cost.

The gift that Mary brings to Jesus is a gift of nard. Nard is a perfume, a very pungent one, extracted from the roots—get this—of the nard plant. (How many of you would have guessed that?) And the nard plant grows in India. So, refining nard was an arduous thing, very hard. Once it was refined, it was then shipped, at least in this case, a long way. It crossed at least one continent, maybe two continents.

But it was not just nard. It was approximately a pound of pure nard. Literally, in the Greek, worth 300 denarii. (Maybe your translation says that literally.) Since the going rate for a man's labor back then was, well, about a denarii a day, 300 denarii equaled a year's wages. So nard was appallingly expensive. It was so valuable that it was always adulterated with something else, always mixed in. Maybe a couple of drops in a cup of olive oil just to brighten the scent of the room.

So in order to store it, then, because of the nature of how it dissipates very quickly, nard had to be sealed hermetically, otherwise it would just dissipate and disappear. This means that to get to the nard you needed to break open the container. So there’s no bottle cap here; there’s no screw top.

There’s no cork to stick in the top. So you can't give Him one hundred dollar's worth or fifty dollar's worth, or two hundred dollar's worth, or one thousand dollar's worth. No. You give it all. Once it's open, once it’s broken, it's all gone.

This meant that Mary couldn't save any portion of it. Once it was broken, it was to be used. No turning back—no turning back.

Now, what was this oil? What did it represent? How did Mary come into possession of it? Well, we can only guess, but there are only two really good options, and one is the best option. It either represented her nest egg. That is a tangible asset that somebody in her family gave to her, a relative, a father perhaps, a thing of value that she could depend on when things got tough, or when she got into her old age and she had no income of her own.

Or, and this is the opinion of most: it was Mary's dowry. You see, as a young woman back in the first century, you didn't fall in love at a college football game. You didn’t go down to a malt shop and meet your date. You didn’t use some kind of online service or whatever. It wasn’t Mary meeting the love of her life on Facebook, introducing herself maybe on a double date. None of that happens. No, you bought your way into a marriage. It was a business transaction between two families. If you had a lot of money, you could get a good family. If you had so-so money, you got a so-so family. If you had no money—good luck.

Now, Mary could not have expected much of a marriage, if a marriage at all, without a substantial dowry. And with no dowry, well, could she find anyone at all?

So Mary gives to Christ a treasure. Listen, please. By doing so, she risked her entire future on ten minutes at the feet of Jesus. She had no other means of income.

How long would it take you to save last year's wages that you made last year? How long would it take you? It's pretty easy, twelve months, right? Let's say a medium household in the U.S. today, Federal Reserve reports it's about $62,000 a year. The average income per person is about $48,000 a year.

How long would it take you to save or to make those or to save those? How long would it take you to save—not just make it, but to save it? Some of you will never save $62,000, that is apart from your retirement or whatever. Would you surrender the equivalent of last year's income at the feet of Jesus for just a single impulsive momentary act of worship because you adored Him and because there was no other name but His?

What’s your nest egg? How much do you have in savings? Your stocks? Your life insurance policies? The equity in your home? The stuff that you are relying on for the years ahead when there is no other income? $50,000? $250,000? $750,000? $2 million? $4 million? Call your accountant.

“George, liquidate everything. Liquidate everything today.”

“Why?”

“Liquidate it all. I have an opportunity in a few moments to pour its equivalent at the feet of Jesus.”

“Are you nuts?”

“Liquidate it all.”

“But you have no other means of income.”

“Liquidate it. It's Jesus!”

Tell me, would you adoringly pour its equivalent at Jesus' feet? Within five minutes bowed before Him, hair draped across His feet, it's gone. What a waste. Jesus' bookkeeper thought it was a waste. It was no waste. Its future didn't go up in meaningless vapor like the writer of Ecclesiastes might suggest. It went up in a fragrance, the smell of praise that filled the whole house and fills eternity to this very hour.

It reminds me of Revelation chapter 5. There’s a story of the twenty-four elders and the living beast. You remember those guys up there, the weird people around the throne plus the twenty-four elders? And the twenty-four elders have golden bowls of incense filled with sweet fragrance, filling the throne room and thrilling the nostrils of God.

These bowls of incense, we are told, are the prayers of the saints. Each time God is worshipped this way, the elders lay their treasured crowns at His feet, offering to Christ everything. And they fall on their faces, and the four living creatures fall and bow with them, and they all cry, “Amen.”

Mary's pure nard is pure praise poured at the feet of Jesus, wiped with her hair, mixed with her tears, gone. But two thousand years later we're telling her story. And I tell you, it is not just the aroma of the nard or the wonder of her sacrifice. She unleashed a mystery that has saved us all.

Lastly, just quickly, look at the nature of Mary's presentation. The letting down of her hair was, in fact, an act of unusual self-abandonment. Being in the company of the other men, these women, they served men. They went in and laid plates on the tables, but they did not dwell with men. They did not sit around like our Bible studies and small groups with men and women. There was no mixed company here. You serve, and you left.

So by all normal measurements, the letting down of a woman's hair, on top of that, was itself scandalous. For a woman to let down her hair in public would be to mimic the women of the street. Only the unclean would uncover their head in the company of other men.

She was kneeling at His feet. Even Jewish slaves owned by Roman authorities were not obligated under Roman law to touch the feet of their masters. This was the lowest thing imaginable and an affront to every Jew. Mary did it. She didn't care who was watching. And isn't it neat that Jesus did it, too?

So Mary abandons her earthly wealth and abandons the expected decorum for a young woman, risking both ruin and public embarrassment to worship and adore Jesus. Self-humiliation, total abandonment of decorum, offensive to those watching, silent she speaks not a word. She surrenders everything to the feet of Christ.

 

Mary adores Christ, and upon Mary's praise, the Lamb of God is prepared to redeem the world. She was a nobody who changed history with her worship of Christ.

Who are you? Is this place filled with nobodys? That is, with regard to our culture.

“Oh, that's just so-and-so. She lives down the street. She works over there, but her husband works over here, but, you know, nothing special.”

There is no telling what mystery will unfold when you bow at the feet of Christ, nobody or not. Do you adore Jesus?

Do you remember Israel's Shemah, “Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with [what?] all your strength.”

And there is Mary at the feet of Messiah.

Dannah: What a powerful message from Pastor Bob Bakke from a recent Revive Our Hearts conference. I hope it causes you to ask yourself, “What sacrifice can I make to express my love for the Savior?” We’ll hear from Bob again at the close of our program today. 

There’s another place in Scripture that speaks of that valuable perfume, nard, and it’s also mentioned in an intimate setting. I’m talking about the Song of Solomon. Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth to explain.

Nancy: It’s a love song. It’s a song about marriage. It’s a song about romance. It’s a song about intimacy. But at the heart of it all, it’s a song about a God who loves His people passionately, perfectly, perseveringly.

It’s an amazing story and song of the love of God for His people, the love of Christ for His Bride and that Bride is the Church of Jesus Christ. If you are a follower of Christ, belong to Him, you are a part of that Bride. So this is a love song for you as well.

Dannah: This is from a series Nancy taught called, “How to Fall and Stay in Love with Jesus.” Let’s listen as she teaches from Chapter 1 of the Song of Songs.

Nancy: Now, in verse 12 the bride responds. “While the king is at his table, my spikenard sends forth its fragrance.” That word "table" the ESV translates “couch.” And either word could be used. It may be that this picture is of the two of them alone together. They may be sitting at a table or on a couch. It may suggest a royal banquet where they would recline on couches. We know that Solomon’s table, according to 1 Kings, was a place of abundant, lavish provision. It was a king's palace and an abundant table.

We know in Psalm 23 that our Shepherd King, Christ, has prepared a table for us. He invites us to His table. He wants to fellowship with us. He tells us that in Revelation 3, verse 20. But we’ve got to open the door for Him to come in and have that kind of fellowship with us.

So here’s this bride fellowshipping with the king, her beloved. They’re enjoying each other’s company. The scene just suggests communion, intimacy. “The king is at his table. My spikenard sends forth its fragrance.” Here again, we have a reference to the word "fragrance" which as I’ve told you is one of the themes of the Song of Solomon. Fragrance.

The fragrance of his ointments we read about in verse 2. And now she says, “My spikenard sends forth its fragrance. A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, that lies all night between my breasts. My beloved to me is a cluster of henna blooms in the vineyards of En Gedi.” This references the three different spices, fragrant spices: spikenard, myrrh, and henna.

First, spikenard. That was a rare and expensive perfume that had an exotic fragrance. Where else do you read about spikenard in the Scripture? John chapter 12, Mary, the dear friend of Jesus, sister of Martha and Lazarus, she “took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (v. 3).

In her case it was an expression of love and worship. If you put those passages together as we commune with Him at His feet, at His table, in His presence, our hearts are quickened and the sweet perfume of praise and adoration will rise from our hearts to His.

Now remember in verse 2 she talked about the fragrance of his ointments? Where did she get this fragrance? From him. He anoints her so that she can anoint him. And that’s what a relationship with Christ is all about. That’s what a healthy godly marriage is about—each blessing the other. But in this case it starts with him.

She says in verse 13, “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me.” That’s the first time she uses that term and it appears twenty-four times in the eight chapters of the Song of Solomon. “He is my beloved. And a bundle of myrrh,” she says, “is my beloved to me.” This is the first of eight references to myrrh in the Song of Solomon. So it’s an important fragrance.

Again, it was a rare and costly and fragrant perfume. Myrrh was an ingredient in the holy anointing oil used in the tabernacle. It was also used in connection with the birth of Jesus. Remember that? They brought to Him myrrh and frankincense—those perfumes. It was also referenced in the death of Christ. Myrrh was not only a fragrant substance, but it was also used as a pain killer. Jesus was offered myrrh there on the cross but He refused anything to deaden His pain so that He could become our healer—a picture of His sacrificial, suffering love.

And so she says, “My beloved is a bundle of myrrh that lies between my breasts.” Now this is a picture that you would have understood if you’d lived in that era, of how people would take myrrh in solid form and put it in a pouch and wear it around their neck during the night so that the fragrance would refresh them as they slept. They didn’t have showers and all the ways of keeping fresh that we do today, and so this was a way of staying fresh. And so she says, “You refresh me.” It’s a picture of a believer holding Christ close to his heart and letting His fragrance bless them, refresh them, letting His healing balm renew and restore them.

And she said, “My beloved is like this bundle of myrrh that lies all night between my breasts”—continually. It brings to mind that passage in 1 Thessalonians 5 that says, “Christ died for us [the fragrance of His ointment’s poured out for us] so that whether we are awake or asleep [whether we live or die] we might live with him” (v. 10).

It’s a picture of keeping Him close to us all the time, in all seasons, day and night, waking or sleeping, living or dying. Even during the night, this bundle of myrrh during the night may refer to times when He seems absent or when we have troubles in life. But we still cling to Him with faith and with love saying, “Lord, I need You close to me at all times.” It’s a picture of just holding Him close.

And then she says, “My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blooms in the vineyards of En Gedi” (v. 14). En Gedi is an oasis in Israel just west of the Dead Sea. It’s a place of grapevines and shrubs with fragrant blossoms and flowers that produce exquisite perfumes—again, just another way of describing the loveliness of Christ.

And then notice in these last two verses two times she says, “My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh. He is to me a cluster of henna blooms.” Not what he is to others, but what is he to me? What is He to you? She’s talking here about a personal experience of her beloved—not just reading about him somewhere, but he is this to me. And what He is to me and to you will affect others.

I was asked to do an interview recently about the Welsh revival in 1904 and 1905. So I brushed up a little bit on that history. I came across again an account that I had read before about before that revival started there was this weekly youth group meeting. At one point the pastor, Joseph Jenkins, asked the young people to share some testimonies. He said, “What is Christ to you?” And those young people started to give all the right Sunday school answers. You know what I mean? They began to give the theological answers and the right answers.

But the pastor stopped them, and he said, “I want to know what is He to you? Who is He to you?” And finally there was a young girl, I’ve heard she was fourteen or fifteen years of age. Her name is Florrie Evans. She was a timid girl and not one accustomed to speaking out publicly. Though she had been raised in the church, a few days earlier she had come to realize that she did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. She’d talked with the pastor and she had given her heart to Christ.

There in that meeting when the youth pastor said, “What is Christ to you?” She finally spoke up and she said, “I love Jesus with all my heart.” Simple testimony but personal. Here’s who He is to me. And with those few simple words, those young people’s hearts were melted. There was that night a spark lit that God used to ignite a flame that began the great Welsh revival in which a hundred thousand people were converted to faith in Christ over a period of a few short months. “I love Jesus with all my heart.” No great big theological profound wisdom. Just, “Who is Christ to you?” 

Dannah: Thank you, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. And of course, you and I need to ask ourselves, “Who is Christ to me? Do I love Jesus with all my heart?”

We’re going to have Bob Bakke wrap a bow around this for us here in just a moment. 

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So Mary of Bethany adored her Savior. The bride in the Song of Solomon adored her husband. Here’s Pastor Bob Bakke, once again, to help us ask some searching questions as we apply these passages to our lives. Again, this is from a past Revive Our Hearts conference.

Pastor Bakke: What has God entrusted to you? What treasure? What gifts? What talents? What skills? What assets? What income? What fame? What influence? What has God given to you? Whether it be great or small, lay it at the feet of Jesus. Adore Him.

Are you a nobody this morning or tonight or tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon? Ah . . . nobodies can change the course of history. Nobodies have. The least have become the greatest. Who are you? Give yourself to Christ.

What keeps you from adoring Christ? Is it those who would watch you and look at you and laugh at you and scorn you? “What are you doing? This is embarrassing. You believe what? You believe whom, Him? This is a waste.”

This is Jesus from whom everything has come, to whom everything will return. It isn't a waste. Do not care what anyone says. You are at the feet of Christ, adoring Him and Him alone.

What children do you have? What grandchildren? What relatives? What loved ones? They're His gifts to you. Give them back. Put them at His feet. And with your praise, adore His feet.

Oh, see the sweet smell of praise is lifted from this room.

O Lord, we adore You. Hear our prayers.

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All Scripture is taken from the NIV.

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