August 9th, 20

THE FRAGRANCE OF FORGIVENESS

Today’s readings are Jeremiah 5 -6 and John 12.  We are reading from the New Living Translation.

The fragrance of freedom, and forgiveness, life, and grace. That’s what Mary knew and experienced.  The fragrance filled the room!  She brought with her a little jar of the most valuable and fragrant of perfumes.  It was worth a year’s wages.  She brought this perfume to Jesus because she knew the difference that Jesus makes.  She knew the difference it made in her own life, and that of her brother.  Her brother Lazarus had died and been in the grave for four days. The smell was something she couldn’t forget.  But there was something far more powerful than that stench of the grave. It was the aroma of Life. It was an experience of God’s love, calling forth her brother from the grave – from death to life.  Nothing else could smell so sweet.  So Mary could think of no better gift, no better offering, than to bring the most fragrant of oils to pour out on Jesus’ feet and to wash his dear feet, with her hair.  What a sight it must have been.  The room must have gone silent at this extravagant display of love and honor, as the aroma filled the room.

But there was another person in the room that was not taking note of this beautiful moment in the way everyone else was. He was blind to this offering of love that filled the room.  This person had a stench in his nostrils so strong, that he could smell nothing else.  That smell was the flesh, and that person was Judas.  Judas was filled with greed, selfish ambition, and pride.  And it was making him unable to smell the fragrance of life, freedom and grace that was present.  Mark says that that night, after witnessing Mary’s amazing display of love, he went out.  He couldn’t  get the stench out of his nose.  On the night that this woman gave all that she had, this man took all that he could.  He sold his own soul for thirty pieces of silver.  

But John remembered the fragrance that filled the room that night.  He wanted us to experience it for ourselves.  Maybe, through the telling of this story, he’s asking us to make a choice. We can choose to receive the fragrance of his life, to receive the gift that he gave us.  Jesus calls us forth from the grave and offers us the most fragrant and beautiful gift, life in Him.  Mary knew it and received it. Judas did not.  

Receive the fragrant offering of Christ in you. Live in gratitude, offering all you have.  When you do that, the fragrance of Christ will fill the room .  It will fill your life and others will take note. The world will see, not us, but him.  And they too will be drawn into new life.

You are loved!