You might think when Jesus was dying on the cross that it smelled of sweat, blood, tears and everything unpleasant. And there was that. But there was more. A fragrance, a literal fragrance, that rose above all this.
It is one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible and it is one that Jesus himself said would always be told. John 12 tells us that the woman was Mary.
But she came to Jesus with an alabaster jar. Thanks to the financially conscious ways of Judas, we know that it was worth a year’s wages. Can you imagine?
That perfume represented all safety, security, wealth and was maybe even a fairly heirloom. All that a person’s soul desire was in that battle. If you had that battle, you would be safe from the storms of life.
Yet when she came to Jesus, she broke it. And poured it ALL over him.
- She saved none of it for herself
- She worshiped Jesus and abandon all financial safety, security and future
- She put the fear of man aside as the disciples rebuked her
- She gave it all. In worship. Out of nothing but love and adoration.
What worship!
The people who should have received him were plotting to kill him. And then there’s this lowly woman who got it, and worshiped him. She kept and reserved nothing for herself.
What she gave Jesus was extravagant.
Then there’s me. Oftentimes I struggle to get out of bed to pray. Or to focus my thoughts on prayer. And worship sometimes becomes duty.
But for her it was love.
Not religion.
Not duty.
Not social expectation.
Just love.
And here’s the interesting thing. Any bottle of perfume is potent. One typically only needs a few dabs. But she poured it ALL onto Jesus. It was her extravagant worship. Leaving nothing for herself.
Jesus tells the people she has done a good thing. And she has anointed him for his burial.
Literally he was anointed for his burial prior to his death.
Maybe she knew more clearly what was going to happen. She had already seen her brother die and raise from the dead. And near the end Jesus was very clear that he was going to die. Soon. On that visit to Jerusalem.
You probably could have smelled the fragrance a mile away it was so strong. When they spit on him, it smelled stronger. When he was bloodied, it would smell stronger than the smell of blood. And when he was on the cross and probably had lost the contents of his bowels, the smell of the very expensive perfume was stronger.
It almost is figurative. No matter what happens to us, we carry the fragrance of Christ upon us. It cannot be washed away or drowned out by the filth of this world.
We are the aroma of Christ.
We are his fragrance to this world.
It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”
And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”