Thoughts on John 12: 1-8

There is something to the nature of smells. Admittedly, I know very little of the olfactory glands, or how the brain responds to familiar nasal stimuli; but I do know that there are certain smells that make my mind wander.

I love the smell of the first cool fall breeze coming in through an open window. It reminds me of a season of renewal, and newness that I associate with the school year.

I love the smell of a bold espresso in the morning. It wakes me up, triggering my mind to full alert before I even taste the first sip.

I love the smell fresh dirt in cool earth. I feel like I am planting flowers in my mother’s planter boxes before Mother’s Day, and the rich fragrance that nutritious soil brings.

The Gospel lesson this weekend is about one very specific smell. Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, uses this moment leading up to Holy Week to anoint Jesus’ feet. There is great symbolism here: the anointing before burial, the shrewish Judas wishing to skim from the sale of the nard, and Martha is still bustling about to serve.

Mary’s offering to Jesus is is one of deep humility. We aren’t told that they are wealthy, and yet the gift of the nard is valued at 300 denarii. Mary even uses her hair, a symbol of her femininity to wipe away the dust, dirt, and earth from Jesus’ feet.

Image the smell of a rich perfume in a small, stuffy, warm room. There would be no escaping it.

My favorite part of this story is the parallel between this pericope and the previous chapter, where Lazarus is raised from the dead by Jesus. Martha objects to the people rolling away the stone. Her objection is a reasonable one: “He has been dead for four days, and he stinketh” (KJV).

I think there is much to the idea of aroma and the power of God, made known in Jesus. Mary knows that this moment is significant, and the others don’t necessarily see it. She takes the most valuable thing she has, likely what was going to be for her formerly dead brother Lazarus, and anoints Jesus with it, marking him for burial. Everyone in the room would smell like this rich nard.

Paul writes on this theme in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, paraphrased as us being bearers of the aroma of Christ everywhere we go.

May we live so much like Jesus that we carry his scent with us.

Dan Arvid Nelson