Have you ever watched someone express love or gratitude and think, “Come on now, this is over the top! Settle down, you’re taking it too far!” Maybe it got awkward, a bit embarrassing for those watching? John 12:1-19 begins with an act of extravagant devotion and ends with shouts of enthusiastic expectation. Both scenes are uncomfortable and controversial, but totally appropriate and exemplary. We’re invited into a devotion to Jesus that will appear awkward to some and wasteful to others but nonetheless is the appropriate response to who he is and what he’s done.
