“Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” (John 12:3)
Judas was quick to point out that Mary could have sold the ointment and given the money to the poor. But Jesus commended Mary’s lavish gift. The call-and-response of the gospel is a lavish divine love evoking a lavish human response.
The gospel proclaims God’s own extravagant, sacrificial love, which comes to people not because of what they can contribute (in leveraging influence with others) but because of what they can’t contribute (in saving themselves). It may seen inordinate for God to surrender His own Son to death in order to purchase for Himself, well, you. But that is Gospel love.
And it’s precisely as each one comes to experience this inordinate love that we’re changed forever.
The apostle Paul had this very experience. After his conversion on the Damascus Road, he came to see that the Son of God “loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20), and that Christ Jesus had made Paul His own (Phil 3:12). Christ’s love became the defining force and motivation of Paul’s life — “For the love of Christ compels us…” (2 Cor 5:14).
— Stephen Witmer (adapted)