If your life was a fragrance, what would it smell like? Would it be scented with florals of joy and contentment? Would it be like the salt air rushing through a car window going at high speed? Would it be a calming botanical? Would it smell like fear and stress? We all carry a ‘scent of being’ that is perceived by others … not an actual “smell” but an experience of presence. I have a colleague whose ‘scent’ might be described as steady sandalwood. His smooth and unhurried approach to life makes people relax in his presence. What is your life fragrance?

Today’s passage takes us to a time when the scent of a fragrant offering filled an entire house. The physical smell came from a jar of expensive perfume. But look to see the other scents that arose from the compassion of Mary and the treachery of Judas:

John 12 ( Common English Bible)

12 Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Lazarus and his sisters hosted a dinner for him. Martha served and Lazarus was among those who joined him at the table. ³ Then Mary took an extraordinary amount, almost three-quarters of a pound, of very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She anointed Jesus’ feet with it, then wiped his feet dry with her hair. The house was filled with the aroma of the perfume. ⁴ Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), complained,⁵ “This perfume was worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold 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 carried the money bag and would take what was in it.)

Mary’s love for Jesus was expressed in this extraordinarily expensive gift of pure nard. Both John and Mark use the adjective pistikos to describe this, suggesting that the oil had been extracted from the exotic pistachio nut. Perfumes and oils served as currency due to their value and portability. Mary’s act was a humble expression of her devotion to Jesus. When a guest arrived in a home, their feet were usually washed in water by a servant or slave. The head was then dabbed with a tiny portion of perfume. Mary’s extreme gift was given without any sense of self-consciousness: Jewish women never let their hair down in public, so her decision to use her hair as a towel was a true mark of her unabashed love for her Savior.

Judas, on the other hand, stunk of greed and deception. John carefully explained to us that Judas didn’t care for the poor but objected to the lovely act because he was a thief. The value of the perfume was one year’s worth of wages, 300 denarii, and we can imagine that with his objection he was calculating the cost of the waste and how much he could have skimmed for himself.

⁷ Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone. This perfume was to be used in preparation for my burial, and this is how she has used it. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you won’t always have me.”

Jesus reminds them, and us, that we always have an obligation to take care of the poor. There will always be poor people who need our help. But he would not take away from Mary’s prevenient burial anointing. The fragrance of her gift filled the house as a witness and testimony to her adoration.

What fragrance fills your house today? May it be pleasing to God.

Filled with Fragrance by Kathy Schumacher