Mary then took a pound of very expensive perfume 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 perfume. (v. 3)

Christ is from the Greek word christos, which means “the anointed one”. It is the same as the Hebrew word messiah. In the OT, three groups of people got anointed: priests, kings, and prophets. Anointing their heads with oil symbolized that they were set apart from the rest for the will of God. Jesus Christ is the Christ because of the specific task given to Him. No one other than Jesus Christ was given the task. That task was dying for His people.

Therefore Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial.(v.7)

I mentioned before that Mary understood this through the Holy Spirit. The disciples of Jesus did not understand it until his resurrection. Mary represents the church in this passage. She knows that she is sinful and does not deserve grace. Yet, she received grace and was grateful for God’s love. Later we will read in chapter 20 that Mary was concerned about Jesus’ body missing. I think that she was worried that Jesus would need the body to resurrect because that was a common belief of the Jews. Jesus’ body was very important for Mary because her life (the church’s life) depended on His resurrection. I am not saying that we must preserve our bones to resurrect on the last day. Jesus’ body needed to be preserved so that His disciples could see the resurrected Jesus and be the witnesses.

Mary’s anointing of Jesus is important because we understand why the Son of God became the Son of Man through it. Jesus died for His people to free them from slavery. Jesus was the one and only sacrifice to God to redeem His people. Although many Jews accused Him of breaking the law, He was sinless and was the law itself. He, who is one of God, saves His people by making them the children of God. God’s only begotten Son could do this. There is no one who can satisfy God except Himself. No human can satisfy God by works. We understand this clearly by looking at Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

I do not believe that Adam and Eve were holy and righteous. I know it is a common belief in the Protestant churches. Adam and Eve were upright but did not understand God as the Son does. They were mere slaves to God although they thought they were wise and great. They wanted to become like God. The devil knew this, and it was easy for him to tempt them. Adam and Eve rebelled against God and trusted the devil because of their lack of knowledge. They did not know God. Therefore, the saints need the Son to be free from the curse of the conditional covenants. There are only blessings for the children of God because of the Son. The Son is obedient to the Father and equal with Him. Only the Son can free slaves because the Father has decided before creation to give the church to the Son. The reason why I strongly oppose to the Active Obedience of Christ is because it leads us back to salvation by works. Jesus came to die for His people. By believing in the one and only Son of God, we are the children of God. Christ did not gain righteousness by works of the law. Christ’s death and resurrection is the reason why we are righteous. Anyone who says that the cross of Christ is not enough will be cursed eternally.

But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)