“Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. (Song of Songs, 4:13).
Before Christ was crucified, a woman came to Him – in front of everyone – and worshipped Him.
She did this by anointing His feet with Nard. Nard was a costly ointment and perfume and when she went to Christ to anoint Him in the week before He died, she did this in a public place and she did this using her own hair. The nard that she used was cracked open. It was not used sparingly. Instead, the costly nard was lavished over the Holy Feet of God. And the amount of nard, and the cost of it, would have been about the same as a year’s wages – so it was a significant amount that this woman gave to God…
“Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. Jesus said, ‘Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.’” (John 12:1-11).
And when I think about her investment in God, it seems very telling. You see, the only other time that nard is mentioned in the Bible was when, in the Song of Songs, its beauty and value are appreciated…
“Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon.” (Song of Songs 4:13-16).
And I have been thinking about these connections today – because the Song of Songs is a Psalm about LOVE. It is a psalm that is designed to cause us to reflect on love and how we can love without counting the cost.
And that woman in the New Testament, that woman who broke open the jar of nard and used it up without thinking anything of the cost, I can see similarities. In fact, that woman gave herself – physically – to Christ. Although it was not sexual in her dealings with God, her behaviour was as a Bride of Christ. She revealed her hair to Him, she touched her body – through her hair – to His. There was an intimacy in her actions that Christ allowed – not because He was a man and she was a woman, but because He is God and she is His child. He allowed that anointing – not for Him, but for her – to comfort her.
And I have been thinking about what sort of love that will be in a God who gives so much love and allows me to show it through a little bit of nard…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.