Sincerely John – Week 22 | Bible Study | 17/07/2025 | Melkbos Fellowship
Six days before Passover.
The shadow of the cross is falling, but here—at a dinner table in Bethany—light still flickers.
Lazarus is alive. Martha is serving.
And Mary is worshiping.
She breaks open her best—pure nard, costly perfume—and pours it out at Jesus’ feet.
The house is filled with the fragrance of devotion.
But not everyone sees it that way.
Judas calls it waste. Jesus calls it preparation.
She is anointing Him for burial.
It’s not the only story like this. The other Gospels tell of unnamed women. Different houses. Different reactions.
But in every version, one thing is constant:
The extravagant love of someone who sees who He really is.
KEY POINTS IN John 12:1-11
Mary’s act is deeply personal and prophetic (v. 3).
Judas masks greed with false piety (vv. 4–6).
Jesus affirms Mary—her timing is perfect (v. 7).
Lazarus’s resurrection still causes ripples—so much so that they want him dead too (vv. 10–11).
Worship will always offend those who don’t understand its cost.
MEMORY VERSE:
“The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
John 12:3b