John 12:1-8
1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
Sermon:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen:
Certain smells will always be with you...
I don’t know the name of the perfume that my mom used to wear... but I do remember being trapped in the back seat of the car and the inevitable application of said perfume on the way to church... the car full of the smell and still, although I don’t know the name of this perfume, it is the smell that I associate with my mom.
Smell’s are funny...
To some, the smell of a ranch is pure joy, and too others it is utterly disgusting. It’s the mix of mud, dirt, and cow plops. It’s a combination of fresh air with the fur and hair of all sorts of God’s amazing creatures. To my nose it means pure joy and the freedom of growing up on a farm. And to others.... it’s just a bunch of cow plops.
There is meaning attached to all of these smells and I’ve even heard it said that we have a stronger memory for smells than we have for anything else that we might touch, hear, or see.
Smell is a powerful thing.
I have a friend who can’t smell... anosmia (a-naws-mia) is the medical term... she didn’t know she had it for years growing up. She’d come home and everybody would say “Wow... it smells like cookies in here... mom must be making some cookies” And she would smile and at the first opportunity run to the oven to check if it was true... she would marvel at everybody's ability to know these things without seeing them... she didn’t know what she was missing.
As she was diagnosed with anosmia (a-naws-mia) the doctor tried to lighten the blow saying “Don’t worry... there are way more bad smells in the world than there are good ones.” And he listed them off... skunks, dead things, rotting things, etc...
And maybe that doctor was right. When traveling in Madagascar I visited a couple of church run clinics that were full of people that nobody else wanted... open sores and many bodies in an underfunded clinic that was trying to help out the sick and the poorest of the poor. Those smells will be with me... even hints of those smells take me back to those places and visions of what it was like in those places flood my mind.
All this gets me to wondering if a smell... being so packed with memories and visions can ever just be a smell. Does this olfactory data always have to mean something good or bad or pleasant or undesirable? I think the answer is yes. Meanings have a way of attaching themselves to odors and can’t easily be erased.
My dogs sure seem to attach meaning to every smell... the result is always the same for them though... “What’s that smell? Toy? Toy? Play?” and then... the nose goes right in... I think Dogs have a one track mind this way.
And for us humans... I think it’s just a little more complex... but not much... we know what we smell... and we know what we think about the smells and we know what meanings we are going to draw from the smells.
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Judas takes one whiff of the pure nard that Mary is dumping on Jesus feet and he knows what he smells. He smells money. And he is not excited to see it dumped on feet and seeping into the floor.
And not only does he smell the money being wasted, he see’s Mary doing something ridiculous. Jesus is not anointed as King... this is the anointing with oil that one does for the dead... she is anointing him like a corpse... this is not done. But then... her brother Lazarus was only recently raised from the dead so maybe this is her way of saying thanks.
But then wiping his feet with her hair... this is also not done. In fact, a woman likely wouldn’t let her hair down at all in the presence of any man but her husband... and here is a room full of men... none of whom is her husband.... this is an intimate moment that none will soon forget... the smell of the pure nard would have made the room difficult to breathe in... it would be worse that walking by the lush store in the mall... and forever that odor... the smell so powerful would be etched into their minds forever of that awkward moment where Mary did this lavish thing.
And so Judas attaches meaning to the event “This is a waste... why didn’t we do something useful with this stuff”
And Mary attaches meaning to the event “Here, take this gift... it’s what I have.”
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Finally we hear Jesus speak... “Let her be...”
The meaning that Judas has attached to the event is true from Judas point of view and it’s hard to argue against it... especially in a room that is so full of an odor you can hardly see straight and you are all aware that a years worth of a laborers salary lies seeping into the floor... but Jesus speaks and a new meaning will always and forever be attached to the odor of that room.
“She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
Mary is showing love, but God is about to do something so much bigger.
And the aroma of this lavish act shows how deeply Mary feels... and the smell will linger with Jesus as he rides into Jerusalem. And the needs of poor, the pound of nard poured out, all of these things will be forever changed in the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus speaks a new reality. He reminds her and us that we will always have the poor with us. he’s quoting Deuteronomy where it demands of us all to give to the poor and help with those who are down on their luck. But more to the point, he speaks of the new reality that his death and resurrection is going to bring in.
Jesus is in fact going to die... he was soon going to leave them...
And under normal circumstances we would expect that the powerful odor of the perfume should be soon overpowered with the pungent odor of death... But Jesus death will not have time to develop the pungent odor of death. Jesus resurrection is coming... and this gives a new reality what what is expected.
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Here today we gather around the cross, the instrument of death and terror for many who witnessed the brutal Roman oppression.
Here we gather around this symbol and all of us together are so used to it’s presence... and we think of it as a symbol of life. New meaning has been attached to the cross as God dies nailed to it. The last place we would think to look for God. And life is seen where death was given. Where so many people before saw only death and wasted lives, God has done a new thing.
Death does not get the last word through the cross as Jesus rises from the dead and so we now confidently look at this cross as a symbol of life.
Called in Baptism, called in the stories of Jesus and the whole history of God’s people, called by the Spirit living among us, we hold the cross high as a symbol of profound new life as God ushers in a new reality.
Through this new Life and love Christ calls together the Church. Each of us called and being part of the new reality that Christ is proclaiming to us.
Through the cross we no longer see a foul smelling death, but the sweet smell of new life and new reality made possible by God through Christ.
Thanks be to God for speaking a new reality into life.
Amen
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