Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for Passover, where he knows that he will be arrested; and in our reading we find him in the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus.
Most people would arrive several days early, in order to make preparations and would have been heading for the Temple. The necessary preparations for Passover are about getting into the right state of purity, to be able to participate in the festival.

But Jesus has his own arrangements for this! – not in the Jerusalem Temple, where all the other pilgrims will go, but in another temple, made out of the home of his friends in Bethany.
Meals and celebrations were very important in Jesus’ life. His ministry began with a wedding feast, and his last act before his arrest was supper with his disciples. Now, as Passover approaches, his friends in Bethany give a meal in his honour, unwittingly marking the end of his ministry.

Did Jesus know what was going to happen that evening? We’re not told. I imagine his disciples were just looking forward to a relaxing evening with friends and plenty of Martha’s delicious food.
But Mary, broke all the rules. She invaded the male dominion of the Passover room with her expensive jar of pure nard, her most precious possession; yet she didn’t hesitate to pour it all out for Jesus.
She anointed him with her precious oil, and the whole ‘house’ was filled with its fragrance.

At the centre of this story is love, Mary’s love for Jesus. Her actions offer at least three lessons in love.  Firstly, Mary demonstrated unselfish love.  Her perfume was valuable; she used it all.

Secondly, Mary was unassuming. It was customary for a host to anoint a guest’s head, but only a slave would wash the feet. Just as Mary had in Luke 10 once sat at Jesus’ feet listening intently, she now sat at his feet serving humbly. Finally, Mary was unselfconscious in her love; she untied her hair, as a lady never did in public, and used it to dry the Master’s feet.
She didn’t care what others thought. She simply wanted to love Jesus. And she did it extravagantly.

‘The house was filled with the fragrance’, Every conversation was affected by the strong perfume, a token of love that could not be ignored.
And then, from Jesus, we learn an amazing lesson about the willingness to receive. William Temple, a renowned preacher and writer once commented: ‘Humility doesn’t begin with the giving of service; it begins with our readiness to receive it.’
Jesus defended Mary, he accepted, appreciated, and affirmed Mary’s gesture of love, and he did so without embarrassment or excuse. Jesus understood about love in action. He was about to surpass her act by his extravagant love, shown on the cross, the greatest gift of all – the gift of himself.
Judas’ love was not so pure. He protested on behalf of the poor, but John spoke of his greed.

Could Judas have been feeling threatened by Mary’s actions? Her actions were deeply personal and raw. This was an intimacy Judas could not afford if he was to betray Jesus.
The story of Jesus’s meal with Martha, Mary and Lazarus presents us with the challenge
“Where are we in this picture?
Are we with Mary, worshipping Jesus with all she’s got, risking the anger of her sister who’s doing all the hard work, the anger of the men who she’s made uncomfortable by her actions, and the sneer of Judas who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Unlike the people in that room we know what Judas went on to do – we have the hindsight of his betrayal of Jesus.
Some of the people present might have agreed with Judas’s opinion that the money for the oil could be better spent?
Or are we back in the kitchen with Martha?
Today is the beginning of Passiontide and we’ve read about Mary’s passionate action
We see the passionate love of God in creating the world, his passion in forgiving our blindness and wickedness, and that passion led him to risk so much in sending his Son. Are we as passionate about Him as he is about us? 
Maybe that’s something we need to contemplate and pray about.
May God bless us all as we seek to walk with Him and do his will.