Year C Lent 5, 6 April 2025
St James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“Aroma”
Collect: Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
John 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 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. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (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.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
We are in the final days of our going “up to Jerusalem” with Jesus. And one of the most controversial moments in our Lord and Savior’s story. In the Matthew, Mark, and Luke versions of this story, the woman is not named, but Jesus promises that wherever his story is told her gift and sacrifice will be remembered.
The aroma of her action will linger. Even across the millenia. And this morning we prove that true. But in John’s version, we have a name and story to connect to this act of love and devotion.
We come back to Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, three siblings in Bethany who were devoted followers and friends of Jesus. Mary and Martha are a story unto themselves looking at busy-ness and devotion, and Lazarus, the greatest miracle of Jesus as told in John in his resurrection. And we see another moment when Martha is serving and Mary is showing her devotion to Jesus.
In our collect this morning we speak of our desire to please God, and Mary’s act falls into that here. We prayed, “Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found.”
Her devotion led Mary to prepare our Lord for his coming death, little did she realize it, I imagine. For her it was an act of love, a flamboyant gift beyond measure as a way of showing what Jesus meant to her. A year’s wage for a working person, poured out so that the aroma filled the whole house.
This is one of a handful of stories that the 4 canonical Gospels made sure that they included. (Jesus’ baptism, Peter’s confession of him as the Messiah, and the Feeding of the 5,000 being the other three.) But this story, like the smell of nard in the air, stayed with the early church and lifted up Jesus and the role he can play in our life, a place of honor and glory, a place of worship and abiding devotion.
When we show our love of Jesus, it can be in hidden and quiet ways, and other days it can be out and loud. There are times and places for both. Jesus instructs us when we fast to not look to draw public attention to it, but to present ourselves in our normal day in and out way. (Matthew 5) In our prayers, do it in a closet, not on a street corner. But then there are more public displays, ashes on our forehead on Ash Wednesday, or when we baptize or confirm folks in their faith. Both are ways to help us explore “where true joys are found” as we prayed in our collect.
Our sense of smell, our ability to process the chemical information in our settings, is one of our greatest gifts. While in the human brain, most of our brain connected to sensory input is used for the sense of sight, our sense of smell is crucial in how we process our world.
Most of us know that dogs process their understanding of the world differently, and their sense of smell is vastly superior compared to ours, where we have about 5 million olfactory receptors compared to their 100 to 300 million. We are like a toddler talking with a PhD.
But despite our lack of ability, it still makes up a huge part of how we move about in our world. Think on this.
The part of the brain that processes smell, the olfactory bulb, sends the signals to the limbic system (responsible for emotions and memory) and the cerebral cortex (responsible for conscious perception and thought). We immediately are taken back to feelings and times when we smelled that smell before. Good or bad. It happens so fast we don’t really think about it, but more triggered to another time and place.
It affects our Survival and Safety. The sense of smell helps us detect spoiled food, smoke, and other dangers, which is crucial for survival.
It is a major part of our Taste and Flavor. Smell and taste work hand in glove to create our perception of flavor, so a loss of smell can significantly impact our enjoyment of food. If you remember back to when COVID symptoms were on the front burner of our minds, losing your sense of taste was a key component for many as to whether they had COVID or not.
We often don’t consider it, but it also deeply affects our Social Behavior. Both the things we consciously do, or the things we unconsciously do.
Smell plays a role in social interactions, including recognizing people and assessing social cues. People have an odor. Sometimes their smell and pheromones attract or repel us, and our level of trust can be in how we respond to how their chemical balance affects us. Mostly not in conscious minds. We call it our gut instinct, but it may very well start in our nose before it shifts into our gut. In preparing for today, it struck how often the signs of protest at marches in the recent days brought up how someone smells. When we want to insult someone, so often the language we use is tied to odor. It says a lot.
So that this act of love (or horrible waste, depending on one’s perspective) had a deep impact on all those who were there. Sumptuous. Rich. Gorgeous. Extravagant. All could have come to mind.
And then Judas proves we see what we are looking for. We hear what we expect to hear.
Judas said more about himself in his comment than it said something about Jesus or Mary. John says as much:
"Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (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.)”
He wanted to see waste and he found it. He wanted to see the negative and there it was. I mentioned how we are triggered by our smell memories, and this holds true for our perceptions and judgements as well. Often we are blinded by preconceived notions.
Mary wanted to shower on Jesus an extravagant gift. She wanted to do something that he would not, would never do, for himself, especially owning nothing but the robe on his back. She wanted to overwhelm him with the love she felt. Her desire was singular, to let her love of him as her brother’s savior, as her teacher and rabbi, be known.
That smell would linger, this aroma of her devotion. And being just six days before the Passover, as we are told, when Jesus was at his most stressful and heartbreaking moments of his Passion, did he catch wafts of the perfume still? Did he go back to that dinner and remember that he was loved and had friends? Did the smell trigger thoughts for him while in those dark and scary moments? I hope so, I truly do.
As we finish our time in this season of Lent, how have you given to Jesus? How have you shown the love you have in what you do or how you have changed your routine? How have you shifted to love what he commanded and to desire what he promised?
It’s not too late. There is still some time to make it happen. There is still opportunity to relish and bathe in God’s grace, and to give it away. Amen
