St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 5th Sunday in Lent
Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8
Gospel
1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary 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. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii 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 kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
NRSV
Smells of Hope
Grace and peace to you, God’s beloved, from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
This past week I had a little person tell me that she didn’t like rain much, to which I replied, you know what? I don’t think it will ever stop raining! You should see her face. I shared her dread. Gloomy, chilly, and rainy days are awful when we, or at least I, are getting desperate for a string of warmer weather. I know. It’s Illinois.
However, the sun showed its face for at least a day this past week. That caused the same little person, a couple of days later, to say, “Pastor, the sun is back!” This time, without any attempt to save face, I replied, “indeed!” Therefore, since I needed to go to the post office, and the weather felt warm enough, I decided to go for a walk.
I went to the parsonage, changed to my walking shoes, and off I went. And this is what turned out to be the nice thing about such a walk, I had left my AirPods at church. See, sometimes that is my safety bubble. I listen either to the news, an audiobook, or a podcast and it allows my mind to go. It makes for good mental hygiene from time to time. So at first, I was like, darn it! But I was sort of pressed for time – remember, this was an impromptu decision caused by the earlier exchange with the little person – so I was like Nah, forget it.
It was nice because instead of shutting myself to my surroundings, I could absorb the sounds of life around me, especially the early birds of Spring. It had sort of a cascade effect in my brain. Suddenly, I was also paying attention to sounds and the visual cues around me. “Are the trees beginning to bud? Is the grass getting greener or even growing already?” Then I was almost overwhelmed by this feeling of optimism. Go away gloominess, go away!
At least for me, the sounds, images, and smells of nature bring recollections of the beauty by which God gifted us. After moving this far north of the equator, Spring sensory experiences remind me that the dread of the winter is passing, and life is making a come back. It is time to look ahead. It is like they say, Spring forward things; not only the time of the day but also our spirits and bodies.
Sensory experiences matter. This is what they do to us. They can recall in our brains, memories of dread or memories of joy. That got me thinking about the excessive amount of perfume that Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, whom Jesus had just raised from the dead, chose to use to honor Jesus. I wonder how much Mary was, at least instinctively, aware of what was about to take place.
See, there were consequences for bringing Lazarus back from the dead in such a public dramatic fashion. In the gospel of John, this is when the people really started to believe that Jesus could be the Messiah. Maybe they were tired of death, sickness, and hopelessness. Maybe liberty through justice, peace, love, and allegiance to a loving and generous God was beginning to sound not so bad. The fact was that they began to break ranks and follow Jesus. The proximity of the Passover, only six days away, and with Jerusalem, since Bethany was only a 2-mile hike, made the religious authorities of the time more than a little antsy. Perhaps the smell of a plot to kill not only Jesus but also Lazarus, whose sight reminded the people of what Jesus was capable of, had been lingering in the air for a while now.
I wonder if Mary could sense the scent of betrayal and brutality and decided to remember that moment, the last get-together with her close friend, in a different way. The fragrance of pure nard penetrating every pore of the whole household would be forever associated with life alongside her Savior, Lord, and God – peace and kindness instead of violence, healing instead of broken bodies, faith, and generosity instead of fear.
Sensory experiences matter. God made us this way. As we find ourselves in proximity with our holy week celebration, beloved of God, may the aroma of bread out of the oven bring some memories back to us:
May we remember the harvest of wheat;
May we remember the streams of living water;
May we remember the yeast of forgiveness and the hard kneading of practicing love;
May we be reminded of becoming the salt of the earth;
May we be reminded of the Spirit of fire inside of us;
May we be reminded of the fellowships at the table;
May we taste the miraculous and divine presence of God among us;
May we never forget the body to which we belong;
May the promise of life anew be fulfilled among us.
Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Amen.
Bridging Faith 