What Has Mary Found?

What Mary knows - prior to the Resurrection, prior to Pentecost - is that Jesus is the Son of God, the Incarnate Word.   She reflects this in her worship of Him in Luke - to the exclusion of worldly concerns - and her demonstrated understanding of His radical teaching in John 11 by washing His feet (prior to His express instruction to His male disciples in John 13) and (perhaps) her deliberate association with the "immoral woman" of Luke 7:37:  just as Jesus will cast Himself as a common criminal in His final Passion, she casts herself as among the lowest of the low, a woman scorned by polite society and "religious" people.  And of course, by anointing Jesus she shows that she knows He is the Messiah and she anticipates His death, a prophetic act that wins His praise.

Note that whenever Jesus refers to His impending death to His male disciples, they either don't understand or insist it won't happen.  Mary shows that she understands and accepts what Jesus must do.  And, as Warren Wiersbe puts it, "Mary's adoration not only revealed her love, but it brought joy to His heart, exposed Judas's sin, and gave the church an example to follow" (Bible Commentary - New Testament (Thomas Nelson, 1991).

Mary is the example for the church - all followers of Jesus - to follow!  Not because of what she does, but what she manifests - her all-consuming love for Jesus, the centering of her life on Him as the source of life and spirit, her complete emptying of her self in favor of Him and His will.