John 12:3

‘Mary therefore took a pound of very costly fragrant oil of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the aromatic oil.'

The fragrant oil was nard or spikenard, an import from North India which came from the roots (i.e. spikes, therefore "spikenard") of the nard plant. It was pure oil and therefore of a high quality as well as imported and consequently very expensive. Matthew and Mark point out that the liquid was in an alabaster flask, the neck of which Mary broke to pour it out on Jesus (Matthew 26:7; Mark 14:2). Many such alabaster flasks for oils have been discovered in Palestine.

Mary then poured the oil lavishly on His feet and presumably rubbed it in, removing the excess with her hair. All this was expressive of her great love for Him, especially the removal with her hair. She, as it were, wanted a part of Him. Reaching His feet would be simple because Jesus would be reclining at table with His feet stretched backwards.

Mark tells us that she also broke the jar and poured it over His head (Mark 14:3). Clearly she first anointed his feet and then finally broke the jar and poured what was left over His head. Mark was struck by the anointing of the head for it symbolised Jesus as the Messiah, while John, more struck by the humility and loving ministration of Mary, stressed the anointing of the feet, which paralleled the later washing of the feet of the disciples by Jesus (John 13). Each wanted to bring out their own lesson. These were acts of pure love. Mary was ever the impractical one, but she was the one who gave of herself in deeply emotional response. Martha mainly gave of herself in service (compare Luke 10:38). Both are necessary in the service of Christ. Without Martha the work would not go on. Without Mary it would lose something of its spiritual nature.

It was customary when a guest was received into the house that his feet should be washed, often by a servant. This had no doubt already happened. But Mary was so filled with love for Jesus that she determined to go one better. She came to cover His feet with precious fragrant oil, and, having lavished on too much, wiped it off with the hair of her head. Then, no doubt overflowing with spiritual love, and determined to lose none of the perfume, she broke the jar and poured the remnants over His head. The oil was very expensive and the amount she had was large, but she held nothing back from her Lord, so much so that the whole place was filled with the fragrance of the aromatic oil (the words of an eyewitness). The picture is of one whole, extravagant act of love.

The incident remarkably brings out the accuracy of the Gospels. This was no fiction. Mary and Martha are always seen to be consistent with their respective characters, and the combination of anointing of feet and head, which we only know of by combining both Gospel accounts, was far more like the tender Mary than just a symbolic anointing of the head.