Mary shows her love for God in a scandalously bold and confident display of affection in pouring out her heart as she mourns what Jesus will soon endure. Mary has heard Jesus’s teachings and his warnings about the path he must travel. Mary weeps at the sacrifice of Almighty God for her own self. As she lovingly prepares him for death, then finally for burial, she grieves openly and shares in his suffering. Judas, in juxtaposition, is resentful.
John conveys the pattern of Judas’s life as one of betrayal of trust and hoarding of treasure. Judas keeps for himself instead of following the example Christ sets, the giving of self. John makes it clear that Judas’s question to Mary is not born out of concern for the poor. Judas is uncomfortable with Mary’s display of devotion.
Where Mary gives, Judas hoards. Where Mary sacrifices financially, Judas seeks self-benefit. And yet, what Judas critiques as waste is, in fact, the greatest gift that Mary can give. Not expensive perfume or money, but the offering of her very life, stripped of all masks, given in service to Christ.
What greater gift can any of us give to God who gave himself for us than to offer ourselves to God, to strip our souls bare of all self-protection, to pour out our very lives in dedication to the One who poured out his own life for us?