John 12 - CSB Spurgeon Study Bible

12:2-3 “So they gave a dinner for him there; Martha was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” The two sisters and the brother who made up the favored household at Bethany, though all most truly loving Jesus, each had a different way of showing that love. Even so, true children of God do not always feel moved to serve the Lord Jesus in the same fashion or to express their love to him in precisely the same manner. Martha served. She was the housekeeper and with much diligence made him a supper. As for Lazarus, the people had come together to see Lazarus who had been raised from the dead. So for him to sit there and to show himself eating and drinking was to testify to onlookers that he was, indeed, alive. Now Mary, perhaps, had been somewhat fond of adorning her person. She may have cherished her long hair and been profuse in the use of perfume on it. The thought struck her—she would consecrate that hair to Jesus, and that pound of fragrant salve she had stored up for the beautifying of herself she would spend on him. She had found something to do and that something not the least of the three works of love! The service of the three members of that elect family made a complete feast. Martha prepared the supper, Lazarus conversed with their honored guest, and Mary anointed the Master’s feet.

12:26 “If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” This is what Christ prefers above all else—that his servants should follow him. If we do that, we will serve him in the way he wants. I’ve noticed that many desire to serve Christ by standing on the top rung of the ladder. No one can get there in one step. The better way is to serve Christ by following him, by “doing the next thing,” the thing we can do—that simple little act that lies within our capacity, which will bring us no special honor but is what our Lord desires of us. In effect we can hear him say to us, “If anyone serves me, let him follow me, not by aiming at great things but by doing just that piece of work I put before him at the time.” “Do you pursue great things for yourself?” asked the prophet Jeremiah of Baruch. “Stop pursuing!” (Jr 45:5) he warned. We must heed his warning also.