Filled With Fragrance - John 12:1-8 (Lent 5C)

My neighbor Larry was not a good gift giver. Every time he gave his wife a gift for Christmas, her birthday, or their anniversary, she complained about what a sucky gift it was. She was starting to get angry. "Larry, the next time you give me a bad gift, I will light it on fire!"

A week later was Larry's wife's birthday. She came down to see only one small box. She sighed and went to go get a lighter. She opened up the present. It was a candle.

What is the best gift you've ever given or received? 

Hard to believe Lent is coming to an end, right? We are in the fifth week of Lent, and next week is Palm Sunday! I mean - I know many of us are focused on Easter in two weeks, but the journey really is getting tough right now for Jesus. 

In the scripture this morning, we are six days before Passover, where everyone would be gathering for the celebration. But in our context, this is just letting us know that it's getting closer to Jesus' crucifixion. This story in John's gospel happens the day before Palm Sunday, so this fits right into our timeline. He's in the suburbs, if you will, of Jerusalem - because, remember, he goes into Jerusalem in triumph next week on Palm Sunday. 

I had the thought of having incense or some other strong scent in the sanctuary today, but then I decided against it, knowing that we may have those who are sensitive to those. I really feel like the title begs for the service to be more than just listening. We will be partaking in communion in a bit, but how much do we really consciously engage our nose? I mean - you can associate memories with smells, whether the smells of certain foods, or spring rain, or even with people, good or bad. (Hahaha) 

But let’s get back to our story this morning - 

They're sitting down to dinner at Mary & Martha's house, when all of a sudden, Mary comes to the table, sits down next to Jesus and pours perfume all over Jesus' feet! Now, I know cultural norms have changed, but I can't imagine that this is normal dinner party behavior, even in Jesus' day. It's then described as "filling the whole house with fragrance". I wonder what that would have even smelled like...? Was it like walking into the perfume department at Macy's near Christmas? or was it just softly wafting through the air like the smell of freshly baked bread as we used to drive through downtown past Perfection Bakery? I swear that place would fill up most of downtown with the deliciousness, especially during the summer. 

I would doubt that any amount of perfume equal to a year's salary would have been subtle. This would have been in your face, no chance of avoiding it, maybe to the point of making your eyes water. the scent - nard, or spikenard - is a foreign plant, usually from India or that area. So it was imported, which didn't make it any cheaper by any means. Now, according to Wikipedia, nard is a flowering plant of the honeysuckle family. It has a woody, earthy, even musty scent to it, so this is not a smell that you could not take notice of. It may have even been that the oil and the scent with it would have even been stuck with him when he is hanging on the cross! 

Judas, though, he doesn't have the same view of this event that Mary does. Maybe he is reacting to being impaled with the overwhelming extravagance of the moment. So he blows up at Mary - what are you doing? This... is so wasteful - you think we could have used it for something better than spilling it all over the ground? These are real denarii we're talking about Mary... we could have sold it and given the money to the people who really could have used it! Now, I'm not saying that Judas is wrong... he does make a fair point. But it's more telling on how Jesus responds. Judas, I would even argue is the anti-Mary. Mary is all about love, devotion, praise, radical service. Judas is "just watching out for the little guys... (maybe even himself)", and his doubt. Despite this story being in all four gospels, the writer of John is the only one to specifically call out Judas as being against what’s happening. 

Jesus defends the anointing because he knows what will happen. What we know is  that he is to ride into Jerusalem as a king, and in those days, kings were anointed at their coronation. Those at the party couldn't have seen that yet. We'll talk more about that next week anyway. Jesus finishes with, "You will always have the poor, but you will not always have me." Woah... how cryptic! What does that even mean?? And as true as that is... even now, we have not stopped poverty from rearing its ugly head, but we can each have Jesus with us. Does this mean we should stop giving to charity? Of course not. But we need to balance the immediate needs of the dead with the ongoing need of the poor. Jesus wasn't concerned with the cost of the gift. One could even say that she was faithful to emptying herself to God, not even knowing what was to come. Doesn't that fit with his parables, like the widow's mite, or even the Good Samaritan, who paid the way for the man to recover from being attacked. Jesus' response is even connected to the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 15: 7-11: 

        After the Lord your God gives land to each of you, there may be poor Israelites in the town where you live. If there are, then don't be mean and selfish with your money. Instead, be kind and lend them what they need. Be careful! Don't say to yourself, “Soon it will be the seventh year, and then I won't be able to get my money back.” It would be horrible for you to think that way and to be  so selfish that you refuse to help the poor. They are your relatives, and if you don't help them, they may ask the Lord to decide  whether you have done  wrong. And he will say that you are guilty. You should be happy to give the poor what they need, because then the Lord will make you successful in everything you do. There will always be some Israelites who are poor and needy. That's  why I am commanding you to be generous with them.

    Ultimately - it’s hard to say what that really means. It left me scratching my head most of this week preparing. Giving to the poor is said to help us see the face of Jesus, but is that not true? I’m not sure it’s a one-for-one kind of deal. Sometimes we will see Jesus in the faces of the people we are helping, and sometimes we do it just to be generous, as we are commanded. 

But let's go back to the actual act - the footwashing. Now, we can look back on this and go - wow this is scandalous - a woman daring to "let her hair down" in public?? Touching Jesus' feet, who is not her husband? Well - she should start making some better life choices! But, doesn't that say more about us than it does about her? Jesus responds defending this... and there may be a reason why - is foreshadowing. Mary is doing what Jesus will do about 10 days from now. At the last supper - Jesus demonstrates servant leadership and humility by washing the disciples' feet. Some churches even go as far to recreate this in their Maundy Thursday services. We will not being doing that - just so we are clear. That is not my plan. Anyway - our original verb here is the same, between what Mary does for Jesus and what Jesus does for the disciples. The other point is that what are the other functions of anointing? what was it used for? Normally we hear of anointing bodies for burial.  Makes me think that maybe Mary has more information than the 12, that Jesus will die. But also, at the time - Kings and prophets were anointed. Kings were anointed at their coronation. Spoiler alert - Jesus is going to be greeted at the gates of Jerusalem next week on Palm Sunday like a King. The trial that takes place later in the week focuses on his status as King of the Jews! 

Some final thoughts for you this morning... what are we willing to break or to pour out for the Lord this week? We are talking about Mary giving something that would have been her life savings to praise Jesus… I know some of us have given up things for Lent, and that is good work, but how’s it going - like, really going - has your sacrifice gotten you further on your walk? Have you used that time to get deeper in faith? 

Have we given Jesus something that would take him aback where others would go… you shouldn’t have!” Or even put another way - have we filled the room with fragrance of our generosity? 

Amen.