What lessons can we learn from the perfume story based on John chapter 12 verses 1 to 11?
I answered the above question in this post that the most important lesson we can learn is about true worship. It is far more important than serving the poor.
Serving the Poor as a Disguise for Theft
In our narrative, this ministry to the poor was used as a cover-up for theft. Out of ignorance, the disciples objected to the wasteful act of using the perfume to honor Jesus. Judas on the other hand pretended to care for the poor to perpetuate his stealing.
I thought a strategy like the above is modern and can only be seen in public policies. I never expected that such a deception would be ancient.
Just like many policymakers today, money had a deep hold in Judas' heart. They think that they have the right to decide what to do on people's private property. In Judas' case, he considered people's offerings as his own. The same mindset afflicts the parasitical class today.
A Tragic Economic Exchange
Judas was even willing to hand Jesus to the chief priests in exchange for 30 silver coins. This is the most tragic form of economic exchange. Judas went beyond the idea of the disciples about "waste". He put his conviction into concrete action. He treated Jesus far below the monetary value that he could get. For him, 30 pieces of silver coins are more valuable than Jesus.
Paul's Warning
The apostle Paul warned us in 1 Timothy 6:10 about teachers of the law who had a distorted concept of godliness due to the love of money. In Greek, the apostle Paul used the word "philarguria," which is better translated as avarice, greed, or covetousness.
The Bible does not condemn money per se or the legitimate means to acquire wealth, but the excessive desire to accumulate money even resorting to illegitimate means. I think to appreciate this better, let us read how the love of money is explained in one Bible commentary:
For the love of money is the root of all evil, . . . . Of all the evils before mentioned, and of others; not money itself, as SILVER and GOLD, which are GOD's CREATURES, and HIS GIFTS, and may be used to, and answer many good purposes; but the love of it, and not any love of it; for there may be a lawful love of it, and desire after it, so far as it is requisite to the necessaries of life, to answer the calls of Providence, the duties we owe to God and men, to serve the interest of Christ, and do good to fellow creatures and fellow Christians: but it is an immoderate INSATIABLE desire after it, and an inordinate love of it, which is here meant, such as is properly IDOLATRY: as when a man loves it, not only besides, but above God; serves it as if it was GOD, and places his trust and confidence in it, independent of God, and his providence; such love of it is the source and spring of all iniquity, as above; it was the SIN OF JUDAS and the root of all his iniquity. The phrase is Jewish. So idolatry is said to be, 'the root of all iniquities. Source: Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And so we see that the perfume story serves as a warning against excessive love of money to the point of resorting to the use of noble and religious language just to hide our greed.
The Story of Sacrifice
Lastly, the perfume story is about an act of voluntarily offering one’s self as a sacrifice.
Here we see the role of the religious leaders of that time. The chief priests were not only ignorant of Jesus, but they firmly believed that by killing Jesus and Lazarus, they were doing God a great service.
What is the motivation behind such a murderous spirit? Based on Bible commentaries, we can find two:
Love for Country
In this narrative, we see the harm that can be done by ignorance and false religious zeal.
Some scholars argue that the perspective of the chief priests was not entirely irrational. They were worried that Jesus’ popularity with the people might instigate another rebellion against the Roman Empire, which might end in the full display of Rome’s military power falling on the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem. And so they think that by killing Jesus, they were doing a great service for the people.
Love for Social Status
The raising of Lazarus back to life has generated a lot of attention. The very existence of Lazarus was a threat to the religious leaders. It was proof that they were wrong about Jesus. In response to the resurrection miracle, the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus as well.
Read how they see Jesus as a threat that must be stopped:
See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him! (John 12:19).
It appears that seeing such a threat, a murderous spirit took possession of the chief priests. They seem to be out of their minds for planning to kill someone who was raised back from the dead to life by the power of God. The fear of God, which is the very reason why these religious leaders exist in the first place, was largely missing from their hearts and minds. They were not afraid to wage war against God himself by planning to murder an innocent man who threatened their religious establishment due to the massive conversion of the Jews to Jesus after witnessing the power of God displayed in Lazarus' resurrection.
Paraphrasing Calvin's comment, he said that the Pharisees were so enraged seeing the crowd following Jesus. They were so desperate and were willing to resort to extreme measures just to end all the madness that they perceived.
Jesus was aware of all these things, the plan to kill him and Lazarus, and yet in chapter 15, we find him talking about love. Just imagine living in an era where leaders despise the value of life just to preserve their status in society, what do you think would be the more "reasonable" message to discuss with your disciples? Does a talk about love make sense in such a time? Or is it more proper to talk about revolt, vengeance, vigilance, and fighting back?
Conclusion
This perfume story tells us a story about worship disorder, that not unless we understand the real essence of worship just like the woman from Bethany, acts of pretension disguising as doing service for the poor and contempt for life will continue. Only by the grace of God, we can learn to love Him with our all, which is the real essence of worship.