Uninhibited Worship

This past year I learned to love Jesus more by trusting him with my worship. Recently, I have been feeling a bit lost. I did not know this was what I was feeling until I heard the words in a song and started crying with relief. I had not been able to diagnose myself in the previous months and had grown weary of the effort. What was wrong with me? Why did nothing seem right? Where was the movement of the Spirit, both in times of activism and contemplation? 

Shortly before this passage, Mary is caught up in her grief and only goes out to meet Jesus when he calls for her. As she weeps before him, he begins to weep. Following this seemingly unnecessary expression of solidarity and grief, Jesus raises her brother from the dead. Sometime later, they are all at a meal together. In the gospel of John, this meal is the turning point when the focus shifts from the mighty acts of Jesus to his final days before his death and resurrection. It is in this place, in between the power of God displayed and his sacrificial love embodied, that Mary pours out everything she is and everything she has on the feet of Jesus. 

It is quite the scene, her hair is scandalously uncovered and she pours out ridiculously expensive perfume on his feet. What is she doing? I wonder if even she knows the full extent. Yet how else can she respond to the man who wept with her in her grief and raised her brother to life? Her choice is to enter into uninhibited worship in the very public view of others. Judas, filled with his own greed and agenda, accuses her of doing it all wrong. But Jesus stops him, “Leave her alone … It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial” (John 12:7).

As I meditate on this passage, I begin to feel a little bit less lost. Jesus can be trusted with my worship. There will be people who question the form in which my worship takes, whether it be acts of justice or unwavering witness to Jesus. He will guard me from accusations and receive my worship. To a watching world, and if I’m honest maybe even to myself, my worship seems unorthodox at best and scandalous at worst. But I am reminded in this text that it is one small piece of something greater that I don’t fully comprehend. So, I have a choice. Will I trust Jesus with my uninhibited worship, or will I allow the accusations of others and my own need to fully understand keep me from participating in his mission?

Key Quotation

He will guard me from accusations and receive my worship.

Question

What act of uninhibited worship is Jesus inviting you into?

Shanna Doughty, International Association for Refugees