NOTES for Joh 12:1-11
Actually, it is a perfectly reasonable thought: not to spend money on some symbolic actions, but to go and give it to the poor. And for some reason Jesus approves this gesture, which brings no practical benefit...
Why does Mary anoint Jesus' feet and wipe them with her hair? It is perfectly obvious that she did not think for a second about His burial. If we had asked her why she did this, she would not have been able to answer. But Jesus does not ask. Without words He understands the main thing: she did it out of love. And everything else no longer matters; even a mad act done out of love is beautiful and precious. More than that, such an act acquires a deeper meaning than the person doing it could have imagined.
But there is one small note: all this is true only in those cases when the driving force is love and only love. As soon as some other motive appears, a meaningless act remains meaningless.