“Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”
Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume — Mary's act of anointing Jesus is extravagant and costly: nard (nardos, spikenard) is an expensive aromatic from the Himalayas, valued at approximately a year's wages. Her wiping His feet with her hair is an act of profound humility and devotion, as uncovering the hair in public was considered improper for a respectable woman. The fragrance filling the house becomes a sensory sign of her lavish love.
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