The Smell of Mary’s Alabaster Box
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday we explored our sense of sight and light. This morning we explore our sense of smell and sacrifice in relationship to the spirit. And though I have an app now to automatically moderate the brightness on my computer screen, thanks to my son, I do not yet have one, unfortunately, that adequately shares smells.
Regardless I ask you this morning to consider The Smell of Mary’s Alabaster Box.
Scripture: “While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
Matthew 26:6 (NIV)
We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 (NRSV)
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
Genesis 8:20-22 (NIV)
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.”
Luke 24:1-3 (NIV)
Message: We sense the Spirit through our five senses. Through our sense of smell we are to recognize the smoke of sacrifice, the spicy scent of incense in worship and the fragrant oil of anointing. It all helps us to remember. It arouses our emotions… memories. Manufactures of perfume have figured part of this out. Maybe that is why they give their products names like “Obsession,” “Passion,” and “Eternity.” It all begs the question of what is in our alabaster jars and whether we are willing to share the contents of our past with God. So what do you smell when you think of Christ? Maybe there is nothing to smell until we open up about what has crushed us.
Pray we give to Christ is worship, life and death. Pray we give lovingly and freely. Pray we value the right things. Pray we have a heart to serve. Pray we give our best to God. Pray we are forgiven for our past. Pray God is obsessed for us and passionate about us. Pray we have an intimacy with Christ. Pray we realize that the aromatic quality we seek sometimes is only released if a flower is crushed… an alabaster jar broken.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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