“Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial.” (John 12:7)

According to the description of St John, the woman who used perfumed oil to anoint the feet of Jesus was Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha. Jesus once praised her, saying that she has chosen the better part when he visited their home as she sat at his feet, listening to him speak, while Martha complained to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.”

The perfumed oil Mary used was made from genuine aromatic nard and was very expensive and cost one year’s wage of an ordinary worker. Although she did not know that Jesus would die on the cross, Jesus knew her by her heart: “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial.” We can use “hearts linked together” to describe the relation between Mary and Jesus.

On the other hand, a relation that lacks love will leave a vision that is negative: “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” This were the words of complaints from Judas. John disclosed that “he said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.”

What Jesus cares about is not the value of the perfumed oil, but sincerity of our hearts.