A Fragrant Offering

In Luke 13:1-9 we find Jesus being anointed with nard by Mary to prepare him for his coming death in 6 days. I can imagine the powerful aroma of this perfume, which cost an entire year’s worth of wages.

The setting is a dinner in Bethany at the house of Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus. I can imagine the smell of freshly baked bread, the smell of roasted meats and other delicious dishes.

But just weeks before, there was a different odor that surrounded this group. Lazarus had fallen ill and died before Jesus could travel to him. Lazarus was in a tomb for 4 days when Jesus commanded that the stone be rolled away and told Lazarus to come out. Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, already there is a stench…”

The intense fragrance of nard. The welcoming smells of a dinner being cooked. The smell of death. The sense of smell for me is significant. Of all of the senses, my sense of smell is my best. It’s a sense that I associate with past memories and present experiences. The smell of mounds of fresh oranges in the grocery store always transports me back to my Grandma’s house in Yuma, Arizona. She had orange trees, and when we visited we would pick huge piles of oranges. Oranges are the smell of my Grandma Crystal.

Perhaps there’s a spiritual dimension to the sense of smell as well. In C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters a demon named “Wormwood” has been assigned tempt a human so that the human will end up in “our father’s house below.” Wormwood is berated by his demon supervisor, Screwtape, for allowing his human to fall in love with a virtuous, Godly woman. He says to Wormwood: “Could you not see that the very house she lives in is one that he ought never to have entered? The whole place reeks of that deadly odor….The dog and the cat are tainted with it.”

Can you guess what the deadly odor is that Screwtape says taints everything, even the dog and the cat? It is the fragrance of God’s love. The fragrance of God’s love is one that comes from those people that belong to God and express God’s love to others. It is a sweet fragrance that is pleasing to God.

            As we observe a holy Lent, we can follow Mary’s lead by making an offering to God. We can ask ourselves: What is the fragrance of my life? What is the fragrance of what I offer to God? What is the fragrance of my offerings to people and things other than God? What is the fragrance of my works, my words, and my actions?