What Fragrance Are You Leaving?

Giving honor to God, to Bishop Howard Van Willis, Jr. the wonderful under shepherd of the Greater Mt Pisgah Baptist Church, to the Deacons, the Mothers, the ministers and to all to whom honor is due. I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the name that is above every name and bring you greetings from Love Christian Center all the way from Douglasville, GA.

We’re located just west of Atlanta and about two hours from Athens, GA where next week the Power of Grace Southern Regional Conference will be happening and I hope to see you there.

Thank you Bishop Willis for this opportunity, I don’t take it lightly, nor do I take it for granted. There is a word from God for the people of God.

Let us pray

Mk 14:3-9 NLT Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head. 4 Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. 5 “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly. 6 But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? 7 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

Our text begins with the word meanwhile. This means there were at least two things happening at the same time.

One of them was it was two days before passover and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus. Instead of preparing to celebrate the joyous occasion just a couple of days away, they were plotting against a man who had done nothing but help and heal and bless.

• A man who saw those no one else wanted to see.

• A man who saw those others walked by on the street.

• A man who spoke to those others thought were beneath them.

• A man who ate with those others thought were unworthy of hosting.

• A man who touched those no one else would touch.

• A man who healed those others feared.

• And a man who called out hypocrisy and insincerity and sanctimoniousness and duplicity and deception.

The ones who should have been preparing for Passover, were plotting to capture their nemesis. They had been plotting for awhile, and Jesus had been busy doing what he came to do. He had broken no laws, in fact he was the fulfillment of the very law these men were supposed to be preaching and teaching.

When you’re doing what you’ve been called to do, your enemy can’t find real fault with you.

• Stay on task.

• Stay in an attitude of worship.

• Stay in a posture of prayer.

Originally, they thought better than to take him during the time of the festival because they were afraid the people would rise up against them. The population was double its usual size because of all the people in town for the festival.

You know how it is when there’s a popular celebration in a certain place, and a bunch of people flood the town, think Essence Fest in New Orleans. Visitors were occupying all the rooms in the inns, whose prices no doubt had doubled in cost. Vendors were everywhere selling food and animals for sacrificing. Yes so many people were in town to participate in this all important celebration of the Passover.

Let’s see who could’ve been there, well I’m sure it included some of the very people who had encountered Jesus along the way and had their lives changed forever like...

• The father and his son who had been freed of the spirit that caused him to convulse and throw him into the fire.

• Perhaps the man they called legion was there, now not only was his body clothed but he was also clothed in his right mind.

• Maybe the man Jesus met at the pool of Bethesda was there, and now he was walking with the rest of the crowd.

• Even the paralytic and his four friends who had torn a hole in the roof and lowered him down through it.

• Perhaps some of the five thousand men plus women and children Jesus had fed with the two fish and five loaves when he preached the beatitudes, were in town.

• It could be that some of the four thousand men plus women and children who Jesus fed with the seven loaves and a few small fish had come to the festival.

• And perchance even the woman with the issue of blood had shown up too.

So they had to be careful, they didn’t want the people to rise up against them. Instead of preparing for the celebration, the senior pastors and the seminary professors, oh I mean the chief priests and the teachers of religious law were plotting to arrest Jesus.

Although they were going to wait, their plan was suddenly put into motion, they didn’t realize they had an inside man who would open the door for them. Yes saints, sometimes it’s those closest to you who will open the door to your demise. You’ve got to stay prayed up, stay alert and stay positive so when trials and tribulations come, you don’t get bogged down in the evil they meant, you’ll be able to see the good God meant for you.

And now meanwhile, this is the other thing that’s happening…while they were plotting, Jesus is at the home of a man known in some translations as Simon the leper, some names just seem to stick, no matter what happens or how old you get. The NLT says he previously had leprosy, but since during this time, people stricken with leprosy were not to be around others and it was an incurable disease, this man was probably one of the people who had experienced one of the many miracles Jesus had performed. Who knows, perhaps he was even one of the ten lepers who had cried out Jesus, Master, have mercy on us, and been healed.

This particular story is recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and each revealed various details.

While Jesus was eating dinner, a woman came in, Mark doesn’t identify her, but John tells us it was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, the same Lazarus Jesus called from the grave. Mary had an alabaster jar; these jars typically had a long neck through which the contents were dispensed.

Inside this beautiful jar was an ointment called nard or perfume made from the root of a plant found mainly in India, and it was very expensive. Now what we know about Mary is, she loved Jesus and she was devoted to him. He had eaten at her house many times, it was this Mary that Martha complained about not helping her serve instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus and who Jesus said she had chosen the better part and he would not take it away from her.

Mary came into Simon’s house, went over to Jesus, broke the beautiful alabaster jar, and began to pour the contents on Jesus’ head, all the contents. In breaking the jar, she signified she was not going to hold anything back, not even saving the jar to refill it, as beautiful as it was. Mary was going all in.

Have you gone all in? What are you holding back? What have you not given up? What has God said put down, and you said not yet? What room in your heart have you put a privacy sign on to not allow God access? Can I tell you something? God already sees it, you may as well give it to Him, whatever it is.

Mary began to pour the expensive perfume on Jesus’ head. It no doubt soaked through his hair, ran down his beard and onto his robe, and can you imagine the fragrance that must have filled the room? There was a sweet aroma filling the nostrils of all in attendance.

But not everyone was taking in the sweet aroma, Mark says some of those at the table, Matthew says it was the disciples and John zeroed in and said it was Judas Iscariot who objected.

Judas, like many people today assigned a value to the perfume and quickly decided it was worth more than Jesus. It’s there in verses 4 and 5, He says, “Why waste such expensive perfume?” He considered using the perfume to anoint Jesus, a waste. Then he may have quickly realized how what he said sounded and tried to quickly clean it up saying, “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!”

He didn’t stop there, he proceeded to scold Mary, harshly. That is to say he yelled at her. Now ladies, I don’t know about you, but I don’t take kindly to being yelled at, by anyone, least of all someone who has no authority over me, and truth be told, not even by those who do. And another thing, these are people who had been to her house, many times in fact, and fed by Mary and her family. Where was their concern for the poor when they were pulling up to her table? And these were men who had benefited numerous times from the generosity of Jesus…so the nerve or was it the character?

But Jesus came to her defense and set the record straight, first saying, “Leave her alone.” Jesus spoke like she was being bullied, and she was, and he was putting a stop to it, and he did.

Then Jesus asked question, “Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me?” Why did the disciples or Judas not recognize that what she was doing was being done out of love?

• Could it be that they had become so familiar with Jesus that they had forgotten who he was?

• Could it be that walking with the Son of God had become so commonplace, they forgot that he was the Savior of the world?

• Could it be that the miracles he performed had now become mundane?

• Could it possibly be they were living Mark Twain’s quote of familiarity brings contempt, in that they, in some regard, now lacked respect for Jesus?

• Or was it just plain old greed?

One never knows the motivation behind why people do what they do, but the fact still remains, somewhere along the way Judas had decided the man he had just spent the last three years walking with, was not worthy of the honor Mary was bestowing on Him.

Jesus continues, telling them, “You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me.” Jesus’ time was coming to an end and there would not be much longer to express acts of love toward him and he knew this.

He explained, “She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.

But it seemed each time he tried to tell the disciples what was to come, they missed it. It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t care about the poor, it wasn’t that he was putting himself above them, what it was, was this…

• He knew who he was and that he deserved the honor Mary was bestowing on him

• He knew what lay ahead, and that he was about to face was his reason for coming.

• He knew he was about to go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he would pray until the sweat fell like drops of blood.

• He knew he was about to experience the most intimate of betrayal being signified with a kiss, by the very one scolding Mary right now.

• He knew he was about to be falsely accused in a mockery of a trial.

• He knew he was about to be beaten and whipped all night long.

• He knew he was about to have a crown of thorns placed on his head and mocked as the King of the Jews.

• He knew he was about to have the other 11 who had walked with him for the last three years desert him too.

• He knew he was about to bear the humiliation of having the people cry out for the release of Barabbas, a convicted criminal who deserved to be on the cross instead of him who had committed no sin, let alone a crime.

• He knew he was about to be placed on a cross, a punishment reserved for the worst of the worst, and have spikes driven through his hands and his feet.

• He knew he was about to be lifted up on that cross, but what they didn’t know was that he had said, if I be lifted up from the Earth, I’ll draw all men unto me. They didn’t know.

• Jesus knew, the Father would have to turn away because He couldn’t bear to look upon the sin his Son had taken on for you and for me.

• He knew that he would they would hurriedly take him down off that cross and place him in a borrowed tomb. You see that’s why what Mary was doing right now was so important, because Jesus knew.

Jesus knew all of that, yet, he calmly and politely sat at dinner at Simon the Leper’s house, defending his friend Mary for the love and honor she was showing him.

His was defending Mary for the providing the fragrance representing her love that would linger for a long time, and wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world … her deed would be remembered and talked about. What Mary did left a fragrance, now what fragrance are you leaving? What fragrance lingers long after you have left the room?

• Is it the calming essence of lavender representing the love you have for your brothers and sisters or is it hostility and hatred leaving heartburn wherever you go.

• Is it the relaxing bouquet of Jasmine representing the joy unspeakable you exude or constant disappointment, leaving despair in your wake?

• Is it the sweet aura of periwinkle representing the peace of God that permeates your heart or is anger that has grown putrid because you refuse to release it?

• Is it the comforting scent of gardenia representing the grace of unmerited favor or envy eating away at your soul like a cancerous lesion?

• Is it the pleasant perfume of lilies representing the long-suffering God showed you or has your relentless resentment left the room rancid?

• Is it the delightful incense of Geranium representing your gentleness or the stench of strife you’ve left in your path?

• Is it a relaxing bunch of Marigolds representing the meekness of the Christ you mimic or the odor of outrage at a perceived wrong?

• Could it be the soothing emanation of Tulips representing the temperance you exercise or does your indignation make you ineffective?

• What is the fragrance that remains after you leave the room?

• Can you remember what God has saved you from when you begin to pass judgment on another?

• Can you remember that all we who have professed Jesus as our Lord and Savior are all sinners saved by grace?

• Can you remember when you look through your jasper-colored glasses of righteousness that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God?

• Can you remember that there are no categories of sin? That all of it separates you from the God and that the penalty for sin is death?

• Do you remember, no not the 21st of September, but do you remember the day Christ found you? Now it’s your job, to help lead someone else through the same door you went through. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me. Can you lead them to the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. When is the last time you helped someone find the narrow gate?

Something else Jesus knew; he knew that three days after they placed him in that borrowed tomb he would rise again.

He knew the disciples would return and he would ascend to the Father, sit on his right hand and intercede on our behalf.

And, He knew you’d be in this place at this time, to hear this message. Now what are you going to do with what you’ve heard? And guess what, Jesus knows that too.

Don’t let your brother or sister take the wide road. Will the fragrance you emit lead them to Jesus or is your stench driving them to hell? Check your fragrance and make sure it’s a good one, make sure it’s a sweet-smelling savor in the nostrils of God.