I love some fragrances – not man made ones, but certain herbs or flowers or spices – they are incredible.
What is your favourite aroma?
Coffee? Fresh kaffir lime leaves? Basil? Coriander? Lavender? Roses? Frangipani? Saffron? Frankincense? There are so many it is incredible – each one evoking different feelings and memories – and many having a positive effect on the mind or body.
Have you ever smelled (essence of) Nard? Me neither! As of writing this though I am going to endeavour to get some…why? Because of it’s huge significance in the below story that should encourage and captivate you here & now, today:
Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said,5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.”6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial.8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”John 12:1-8 (NLT)
This part of history I am sure is written for people like you and me. Here, just a week before He knows He is going to be abandoned, rejected, tortured and killed, we find Jesus in Bethany.
Not in the Temple with the religious people. Not in Rome with the powerful or rich people. He was in a small town with a group of sinners, enjoying a meal with them, honouring them with His presence.
What a joyous and special meal it must have been, with a man who had died (and been dead for 3 days!) and who He raised back to life. In the presence of people who the religious people wanted nothing to do with. Interestingly, when Jesus is killed a week later, He again its’ outside the town – a true outsider from birth to death.
One woman so moved at this meal, pours some expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. While this perfume was extremely pungent, it wasn’t the most fragrant thing in the room. That would be the worship that Mary offered…
This is the most incredible act of worship for a number of reasons:
- The Spikenard would have been worth about a years wages or more.Tens of thousands of dollars.
- The Spikenard was worthless once the Alabaster jar was broken
- The Spikenard was likely a family heirloom
- The Spikenard could have been her only dowry for a husband, affecting her long time security and at the very least her wedding day
- Washing the feet was only done by slaves (feet were filthy – no socks and open shoes!)
- It was taboo for a woman to touch a man who she was not married to
- It was taboo for a woman to even have her hair down in public (it signified prostitution) let alone rub a mans feet with it!
This single act had amazing significance and importance – but why was this perfume so expensive?
Spikenard is the Indian plant Nardostachys jatamansi 1 (from nardos, “fragrant shrub,” and stachys, “spike”). It had spiky parts pointing towards suffering (and Jesus being pierced) and the flowers were purple, signifying royalty.
Nard only grew in the Himalayas in cold, rocky ground. The purest, most potent perfume was processed from the roots of the plant, which, due to growing in the rock, were very small. It was a time consuming process hence the rarity and associated immense cost.
Adding to the problem, the perfume deteriorated rapidly meaning it had to be sealed in Alabaster Jars. Alabaster of old was an incredibly slowly forming substance that grew only in dark caves at a rate of 0.25 – 3mm per year! 2(Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible (5 Vols.)) Strictly speaking it is neither marble nor onyx, for the onyx is a banded CHALCEDONY, composed largely of silicon dioxide.
Its formation is the result of deposition from cold water solutions in CAVES, particularly as stalactites and stalagmites, in crevices, and around the exits of springs. This type of deposition occurs in regions with limestone (calcium carbonate) strata. The calcium carbonate is dissolved by ground water containing carbon dioxide that moves along bedding planes and joints. In caves, formed just below the water table, calcite or aragonite is precipitated when carbon dioxide is lost from the ground water. Stalactites hang vertically from the cave roof with concentric layers of crystals being added as ground water slowly flows down the outer surface. Rate of growth generally is of the order of 0.25 – 3.0 mm/year. Concentrically banded stalagmites grow upward from the cave floor toward the drip surface in the roof.
D. R. BOWES Even now this substance is around $100 for 5ml and Mary poured over 320g of it over Jesus’ feet!
How intimate and powerful is this for us? True worship of Jesus is being formed from the trials, the darkness, the pains and the valleys of life. It is hard and it takes time. How much had this woman gone through to be willing to give up her dignity, her position, her security, her future and wash Jesus’ feet with this Nard?
Was it a hard decision? I submit that in that moment it was an easy, willing and soul revealing act out of true thanks and gratitude. And it can be from you too.
Here He was, the incarnate Son of God, the Creator of heaven and earth, perfect and all-knowing, yet sat reclining and eating with this sinner. Not with judgment, but with forgiveness and love.
What did He offer that was worth so much? Not ‘just’ a second chance but a clean slate. A new beginning. A new life.
And He offers it to you too! He calls it being ‘Born Again’ – the start of a new, free, eternal life. And not ‘just’ a one off event – but a continual and perpetual renewal of our hearts & souls as He transforms us into the image of His Son.
Never rubbing our noses in our mess or failures or sin, but unconditionally loving and caring and encouraging and healing and changing us… Nothing else matters. Not money or fame or ….. it’s easy to give up the crap of this life for the Ruler of the next.
Turn you eyes towards Jesus today – His grace is unending, His power is infinite, His love is perfect and His forgiveness is complete. What He did rose as a fragrance to God – pleasing and acceptable. Now, because of Jesus, our worship, no matter how out of tune, no matter what, is acceptable to God!
Thank you for looking with love despite all our sin and bad choices. Thank You for loving so much that You sent Your Son to die a horrible death on the cross for me. Thank You for raising Him to life and give Him the power over death. Please change my heart towards the things that offend You and help me live for You.
Better than the riches of this world
Better than the sound of my friends voices
Better than the biggest dreams in my heart and that’s just the start
Better than getting what I say I need
Better than living the life that I want to
Better than the love anyone could give
Your love isYou hold me now in Your arms and never let me go
(Hillsong)
Footnotes:
- 1(from nardos, “fragrant shrub,” and stachys, “spike”)
- 2(Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible (5 Vols.)) Strictly speaking it is neither marble nor onyx, for the onyx is a banded CHALCEDONY, composed largely of silicon dioxide.
Its formation is the result of deposition from cold water solutions in CAVES, particularly as stalactites and stalagmites, in crevices, and around the exits of springs. This type of deposition occurs in regions with limestone (calcium carbonate) strata. The calcium carbonate is dissolved by ground water containing carbon dioxide that moves along bedding planes and joints. In caves, formed just below the water table, calcite or aragonite is precipitated when carbon dioxide is lost from the ground water. Stalactites hang vertically from the cave roof with concentric layers of crystals being added as ground water slowly flows down the outer surface. Rate of growth generally is of the order of 0.25 – 3.0 mm/year. Concentrically banded stalagmites grow upward from the cave floor toward the drip surface in the roof.
D. R. BOWES