Mary Anoints Jesus’ Feet

January 16

There are several Marys mentioned in the Gospels, and sometimes it’s easy to get confused distinguishing between them. The Mary in today’s Bible reading is Mary of Bethany—the sister of Martha and Lazarus (the friend Jesus raised from the dead in John 11). This Mary is not to be confused with Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary, the wife of Cleopas; Mary, the mother of James and Joses; Mary, the mother of John Mark; nor was she the Mary of Rome, greeted by Paul in Romans 16:6. Just by this list in the Gospels, we get an idea of how popular this name was back in Jesus’ day.

This sister of Martha and Lazarus made the “right choice” (Luke 10:42) of sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to what He said. In Luke’s account, we see that there are different—and important—ways of expressing our love and worship of Jesus. We’ll read that story on April 13.

Because of her family’s close (platonic) relationship with Jesus, however, and possibly in light of what she’d just witnessed in her brother’s resurrection, Mary emptied a half-liter bottle of perfume on Jesus’ feet, then wiped His feet with her hair. In this, there are three important things we should not miss:

1.) This was a very expensive perfume, one which cost 300 days’ wages! (John 12:5) Think of a year’s income of your salary. This kind of perfume was imported from India and used by the Romans to anoint the dead, hence Jesus’ comment that Mary was preparing Him for His burial. This was the beginning of Jesus’ final week of ministry; He would be crucified just six days later. (vv. 1, 7)

2.) Wiping someone’s feet was the duty of servants and slaves. Wiping someone’s feet with one’s own hair was a sign of deep humility, gratitude, and love.

3.) Women rarely let down their hair. Even today, women from Middle-Eastern cultures do not expose their hair. Exposing her hair to wipe Jesus’ feet was a scandalous act on Mary’s part. She didn’t just break all social etiquette and protocol; she obliterated them.

This is a very striking and deeply moving sight—a woman utterly abasing herself by using her hair as a towel to wipe a year’s worth of wages’ in perfume across a man’s feet.

Application

How extravagant are you in your humility, sacrifice, and honor of Jesus? Are you satisfied with giving only ten percent to your church? Are you satisfied with giving only to the poor?

Or will you only be satisfied with being completely humble—even humiliated—in honoring Jesus with extravagant, sacrificial giving? Are you satisfied with giving only a portion of your treasures? Or do you also give of your time and talent to worship and serve Him?

© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman