Well, I forgot the day I received the above perfume from the mother-in-law of my colleague. The only thing I remember is that I received the gift when I slept in his house after visiting a dying friend. I think that was around the first week of February this year.
I did not know the product's price when I first received it. When I checked the price just now, I saw that it was not expensive, just 398.00 PHP, exceedingly cheap compared to the 1.8M USD worth of perfume created by Morreale, a French company. Source
The Story of an Expensive Perfume
As I reflect on John 12 verses 1 to 11, I struggle to see the fallen condition focus of the narrative. All I saw was the story of a woman from Bethany pouring out on Jesus' feet an expensive perfume, the disciples objecting against the seeming wasteful act, and the chief priests plotting to kill both Jesus and Lazarus.
And then I received a hint from the narrative itself. A dinner was held in the house of Simon the Leper to honor Jesus for bringing Lazarus back to life. I am not sure if the woman was aware of Jesus' divinity. However, there are Bible scholars who argue that the act of Mary was more than giving honor to Jesus, but an act of worship. If I will take this insight as a clue to understanding the whole narrative, then all the details will make sense particularly the role of Judas Iscariot and the chief priests.
Worship Disorder
The phrase "worship disorder" is popular in the biblical counseling movement. They trace every problem whether individual or social to such an anomaly.
What is worship disorder by the way? It is a human act of prioritizing the second tablet of the Law which talks about loving our neighbor as ourselves and taking the first tablet of the Law for granted, which talks about loving God with our all. At the bottom of such disorder is the worship of creation including man and taking the Creator for granted.
Such a disorder has serious consequences. It affects the way we relate to ourselves, to others, and to our environment. Sticking to the biblical narrative, we have here an example of destructive results of worship disorder in the way Judas views private property and in the way the chief priests view life.
Contempt of property and life spring from such a disorder. Unless this worship disorder is addressed, both the church and society will continue to view property and life with contempt.
The contempt for property is demonstrated through various ways of theft, be it legal or unlawful. The contempt for life manifests in killing whether in the form of murder or genocide.
If we are to examine closely the political and social conditions, both international and local, we could say that these two forms of contempt are widespread today. They cannot be addressed by economic, technological, political, and even educational solutions. This problem is basically spiritual and theological. I hope that by sharing with you the story of the woman from Bethany, we will be reminded that the solution is to return to the spirit of true worship.