Daily Radio Bible - August 10th, 21

Her brother Lazarus had died, and had 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 perfumes, to pour out on Jesus's feet, and to wash his deer 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. But there was another person in the room that was not taking note of this beautiful moment, 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, pride, and it made him unable to smell the fragrance of life. Freedom and grace. Mark says that on the night that this woman gave all that she had, this man took all that he could. He sold his soul for 30 pieces of silver. But John remembers the fragrance that filled the room that night. And he wants us to experience it for ourselves. Maybe through the retelling of this story. He's asking us to remember how 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. Receive the fragrant offering of Christ in you.  Live in gratitude, offering all that you have. When we do that, the fragrance of Christ will fill the room. It'll feel our life and others will take note. The world will see not us but him. and they too will be drawn into his life. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so

You are loved!