The Savior of the World

Beloved People of God,

Scents have a way of rapturing us out of our present into a memory. The other day Daphne made beignets, the kind we both grew up eating in Africa, and as I bit into it and the smell filled my senses, I was a 6-year-old boy on the streets of Malabo. I can’t describe how the smell and taste populated my mind and memory with the sights and sounds of Equatorial Guinea in 1988.

I’m guessing the Apostle John had a similar scent memory with the smell of the perfume broken free from Mary’s alabaster box. Decades later as John composed his Gospel, I wonder if the smell came back to him. I think it did. I think whenever he smelled nard, he was transported back to that night when, “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (John 12.3). It was a sweet memory because it signaled the time had come for Jesus to become our Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5.7b). Anointed for burial He will bring us to new life in His resurrection!

The Apostle Matthew would remember this night, recalling how Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (Matthew 26.13). Mary’s love for Jesus is vibrantly evident. Jesus is the One who made room for her among His disciples (Luke 10.38-42). Jesus is the One who wept with her in her deepest grief (John 11.32-35). He is the One who raised her brother Lazarus back from the dead (John 11.38-44). Who else was more deserving of her absolute devotion, but Jesus Christ?!

Friends, it’s right we call Jesus our Christ and Messiah. Both words, in Greek and Hebrew, carry the meaning of being anointed. When He began His ministry, Jesus was anointed by the Father with the Holy Spirit and power (Acts 10.38). Divinely anointed at the beginning, it’s fitting then we would anoint Him on his way to the cross. We, the humanity made in His image. We, who are made whole in His sacrifice, would devote our most priceless gifts for His worship. This Holy Week may the Lord, our anointed Messiah, fill our senses with the fullness of His glory.

For Christ the King, 

Brett