The price ticket for an emotional, sensuous act of worship

Like many other preachers this morning I preached on the wonderful story of Mary who washed Jesus's feet shortly before his passion (John 12:1-8).

In terms of emotion this must be one of the most "sensuous" passages of Scripture. Mary uncovers her hair and massages the feet of Jesus. This is surely something that would have caused outrage. It was an emotionally charged and scandalous act.

Those around did react, but they didn't react by complaining about the senusual nature of the encounter. They focussed on the price of the nard used to wash the feet.


For the last forty or so years I've seen wonderful expressions of Christian faith and service squashed by those who seek to quench the Holy Spirit. Strangely they rarely question the movement of the Spirit. They look to see if a "rule" has been broken, they point out that it may cause offence to others without specifying who those others are, above all they look at the price ticket. If all else fails, it is too expensive.