The Fragrance Filled the Whole House
This is one the precious
stories of the Gospels; I say that because Matthew, who tells the same story in
his gospel, says that Jesus said “wherever the Gospel is preached this story
will be told in memory of her.”
This is one of those stories
we pass on – it appeals almost to all the senses – we can see Mary at Jesus
feet, we can feel her hair washing Jesus feet, we can hear Jesus blessing her,
we can smell the perfume, it filled the whole house. Sometimes a smell can be so
strong that you almost taste it.
It’s a beautiful story.
What’s it about:
Well, it’s another story about
Mary and Martha,..... we’ve met them before in John’s Gospel; Mary the one who sits
at Jesus feet, while Martha runs around working.
It’s another story about
Lazarus who just a few weeks before this had been dead and buried.
It’s a story of Judas.
It’s a story of the other
disciples.
It’s a story of the poor – it
contains one of Jesus most important teachings about the poor.
It’s a story of money, isn’t
it?
It’s a story about Jesus.
At it’s most basic it is the
story of a home which becomes filled with the fragrance of a beautiful perfume,
which no doubt also passed through the windows and doors to the outside, perhaps
even causing passersby to stop and enjoy the aroma.
Can I suggest it is a story of
smells and then ask us this question: what do our homes smell of?
Many years ago there was a
advert on Springbok radio (in South Africa).
“Nice people the Jones’s
aren’t they dear. Yes, but that smell of cooking from the kitchen..... and the other
rooms. .....Boom boom boom....... Other people do notice unpleasant odours in your home
but spray… air freshener…..........”
What does your home smell of –
what fragrance, in the words of verse 3, ‘fills the whole house?’
There are a few smells in Mary and
Martha’s home:
There’s probably a whiff of
resentment in the air, Mary and Martha are sisters but they don’t have the best
relationship. Previously Martha has complained
to Jesus… “tell Mary to get up and help me.”....Now here she is again, at the
feet of Jesus when there is a dinner party going on.
That whiff of resentment and bitterness
that fills homes when people feel other members of the family aren’t pulling
their weight.
There’s surely the whiff of
excitement in the air. Jesus is here.
And of course there's Lazarus – they
say some people can smell a good story a mile off – and they were coming from
all over to hear and see the story for themselves .......this story of a the man
raised from the dead – a story that was wafting all over the area, even into
Jerusalem, even into the homes and palaces of the scribes and Pharisee’s and
religious leaders.
Do our homes ‘smell’ of the
stories, of the good stories, miracles and works that God is doing in your
life?
There’s another smell in the air
that night, the smell of the thief ....verse 6 Judas used to help himself from the
money bag.
Some variations of this smell
today are the atmosphere in a home where a child perhaps takes from the money
bag of the parents – begs for help and always gets it while other siblings struggle
on trying to make their own ends meet.
It’s a smell that can linger
for years… “you know you helped, so and so, but you didn’t help me or … mom and
dad sacrificed for so and so to go to a good school…”
Another variation is the
family member, parent perhaps, who dips into the moneybag to feed a bad habit,
drinking or gambling and the family goes without.
It creates a terrible smell in
the home,............. the smell of the person with his/her hand in the moneybag.
There is of course the smell
of treachery in the air – Judas already has his ideas about betraying Jesus.
That’s a terrible smell in the
home – when wife or husband, or children sense betrayal in the air.
There’s the smell of money in
the air. ‘That could have been sold for 300 silver coins’
The equivalent of many nice,
new, fresh, crisp notes today.
There’s the smell of the poor ..............vs 8 “You will always have poor people with you.”
Oh no… sniff sniff… what a
damn nuisance. Jesus says in our reading "You will always have the poor with you".....but as we look at our seat/pews today in our churches, are the poor with us.......Thank God for the new pope who might call us all back to the poor, who, by our manoeuvrings are NOT always with us in the church....
This is a story of smells, the
smells that permeate our homes and our lives, our work places, our church, our nation.
The smell of death is in the
air that night: ‘Let her keep the rest for my burial.’ Oh man … we don’t’ all
like it when a person starts talking about their death. It can leave a bad
smell or taste in the mouth.
All these smells fill our homes
– some of them are good, some are bad, some are unavoidable,................ they filled Mary and Martha’s home that evening but they were overpowered by the sweet
smell of extravagant love and sacrifice for Jesus. That is the fragrance that
filled their home that evening........
It’s very close to Easter now
and I need to ask you:
Do you love Jesus?
Do you love Jesus
extravagantly?
Do you love Jesus
sacrificially?
Do you love, in the words of
Scripture, the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength?
When we
don’t, then other smells overpower us.
But how do I love God this way,.... you ask?
I’ve struggled with this as I’ve experienced different love relationships –
parents, wife, my children. It’s a different love, isn’t it?
But pursue this love, long for
this love, pray for this love, desire it, hunger and thirst for this love so that it becomes the fragrance in
the midst of all these other smells that we sometimes have to live with, pray for
this love so that it becomes the fragrance that fills the whole house of your life.
The text I’d like you to take
home is from John 12:3
‘The sweet smell of the perfume filled the whole
house.’
We’ve looked at the smells
that can fill our homes and we’ve been reminded of the best air freshener there
is – the extravagant and sacrificial love for Christ flowing from our hearts.
