Week 61 — The Aroma of Christ
John 12:1-8

As we continue to follow Jesus in his 70-week ministry, He has completed his final circuit of teaching in Galilee, and he is headed with the crowd of pilgrims on his way to Jerusalem.  This week, they would be somewhere here about to cross the river Jordan and head west to Jerusalem.   Next week, we will join Jesus as he enters the town of Jericho on his way toward Jerusalem.  But this week, I want to depart from my chronology and jump ahead a couple of weeks to the day before Jesus enters Jerusalem on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday. In 28 AD, almost 2000 years ago, the day of Jesus’ procession into the city of Jerusalem happened on April 24.   As you know, the date for Passover/Easter can vary as much as 35 days, and can fall as late as April 25.   But today, we will discuss what happened 6 days before Passover on the day before that triumphal entry.  But first, think back to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  Remember when Jesus preached in Nazareth and read from the Isaiah scroll?

Luke 4:16-18  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.  And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.

What Jesus literally read in the scroll of Isaiah, in Hebrew, was, “The spirit of the Lord Yehovah is upon me because Yehovah has ‘mashach’ me.”    Mashach means ‘anointed.’  The same word in another form is ‘Mashiach’ or ‘Messiah,’ which means ‘the anointed one.’  (The Greek translation of ‘Messiah’ is ‘Christos’ which our English Bibles translate as ‘Christ.’)  These titles for Jesus – Messiah, Christ — all mean “the anointed one.” When you say Jesus Christ, you say Jesus, the anointed one.  And Jesus claims Isaiah’s prophecy.  The Spirit of Yehovah is upon Jesus because Yehovah has anointed Jesus.

In the Old Testament, anointing with oil is a ritual used to signify that an individual was consecrated, designated, and empowered by God. Three groups of people are anointed with special oils: prophets, priests, and kings.  

First, Prophets are anointed.  Elijah is here commanded by God to anoint Elisha as a prophet to take his place.

1 Kings 19:16  “… Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.”

Elijah’s time as a prophet is over, so he is told to anoint Elisha.  You could view this like a runner handing off the baton to the next runner in a relay race.  It is actually more like a pitcher handing the baseball over to his relief pitcher.  He is being removed from the game because he hasn’t done well.  For now, see that Elisha is anointed for the task of a prophet.  With the anointing, God has called Elisha out and empowered him for the task with the Holy Spirit.

Priests are anointed.  Aaron and his sons are to serve as the first priests of Israel.  To set them aside for the task, they are anointed.

Exodus 28:41  “And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.”

And Kings are anointed.   Here, Samuel anoints Saul as King:

1 Samuel 9:27-10:1   As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”   Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Yehovah anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Yehovah, and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies.

After his anointing, Samuel tells Saul that he will meet a group of prophets and then

1 Samuel 10:6  “Then the Spirit of Yehovah will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

With the anointing of the king, the Spirit of God comes on Saul, and he is “Turned into another man.”  This is the effect when God anoints someone—they become a new man with new goals, a new focus, and new power.  When God anoints you, your life takes on new meaning; the old you dies, and you become the person God created you to be. 

We see the same when David is anointed by Samuel:

1 Samuel 16:13  “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of Yehovah rushed upon David from that day forward.” 

David was anointed and set aside for God’s task for David to be a king.  And he was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do that job.  This process of anointing runs all through the Bible. And when Jesus reads from Isaiah in Nazareth, he says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me.”

So let me ask you a question.  When was Jesus anointed?  When did the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus?   Right, at his baptism.  

Matthew 3:16. “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.”

There, God sets Jesus aside with the specific task he had been created for.  There, his 70-week ministry begins.  Like Elisha, Aaron, and David, whom God created to fulfill the roles of prophet, priest, and king, there is this moment of anointing when God interrupts and changes their path to become the people God created them to be.  A person empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work God set up for them to do.

Peter makes this clear in his conversation with Cornelius in Acts 10:

Acts 10:37-38  “…you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.”

In Nazareth, Jesus claimed this anointing by God, being chosen, set aside, and empowered by God to do the ultimate task: to bring salvation to mankind.  But there are two other anointings of Jesus.  Jesus was anointed twice with oil.  Both times by a woman.  The first at the house of a pharisee by a woman of ill repute (Luke 7:36-50) and the second at the house of Simon, the former leper by Mary, sister of Lazarus (Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, and John 12:1-8.). It is this episode I want to look at this morning, as it happens the day before the Palm Sunday triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

John 12:1-8   Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.  So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.  Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,  “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”  He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.  Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.  For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

“Six days before Passover.”  I have to say a bit about the timing here, as it can be very confusing.  For many years, the common belief was that Jesus was crucified on a Friday.   This was because the Bible said that (John 19:31) that Jesus was crucified the day before the Sabbath.

John 19:31   “Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.”

Well, scholars then didn’t know much about Judaism, but they knew the Sabbath was Saturday, so that meant Jesus had to be crucified on a Friday, so his body had to be removed from the cross before the Saturday Sabbath started at sundown.

Except…. there are a few problems here.  First, John says it was the “day of preparation.”   That is the day when all the preparations are made for the Passover meal:  preparing all the special food, killing the lamb in the temple, and roasting it.  But wait, haven’t we all been taught that the Last Supper was a Passover meal?  Yet John makes it clear here and in several other places that the Passover meal is not held until after the crucifixion.  (Don’t just believe what tradition teaches you — read the Scriptures.)

Secondly, John specifically said that this Sabbath was a ‘high day,’ a special Sabbath, and not the regular 7th day Sabbath. You only know this if you study Leviticus, and well, we know people don’t read Leviticus.  In fact, during the 8-day Passover celebration, there are typically 3 Sabbaths. Leviticus 23:6-8 tells us that the day after Passover preparation day, the day after the lambs are killed, is always a Sabbath, no matter what day of the week it falls.  

Leviticus 23:5-8  “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is Yehovah’s Passover.  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Yehovah; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.  On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.   But you shall present a food offering to Yehovah for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

So, day 1 and day 7 are special Sabbaths. It is this Sabbath that comes the day after Jesus is crucified, so that verse in John doesn’t tell us anything about the day of the week of Jesus’ crucifixion.

The Friday crucifixion also does not fulfill the sign on the prophet Jonah that Jesus mentioned more than once (Matthew 12:40 and 16:4, for example).  The only way Jesus could be in the tomb for the three full days and nights is if he was crucified on a Wednesday and resurrected at the close of the weekly Sabbath and the beginning of the first day of the week (which was the day celebrated as the feast of Firstfruits.)  That would give Jesus Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Thursday night and Friday morning, and then Friday night and Saturday morning.  He could be resurrected anytime after sundown Saturday which is the beginning of the first day of the week (our Sunday.)  

Finally, remember that in this first-century culture, people believed the spirit did not depart from the body until after 3 days and nights — it hung around the body, deciding if it was to depart or return to the body.  That is the reason Jesus delayed going to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead until after that time was over, so no one would deny it was a miracle.  Would Jesus’ resurrection be any different?  If he was placed in the tomb on Friday afternoon and raised on Sunday morning, that is less than 48 hours.  It would not qualify as a miracle for anyone in Jesus’ day.  He had to be in the tomb for at least three days and nights to qualify as an undeniable conquest of death. 

So a Friday crucifixion just doesn’t fit with the scriptures.  Nor does the Last Supper being a Passover dinner.  Again, don’t just believe the tradition you’ve heard.  Go home and read the scriptures.  If you find something you don’t understand, then discuss it with others.  Read the book!

All that being said, the bottom line is that the date doesn’t really matter.  Please don’t let this information about timing be your take-home message from this blog.  This is not the important part.   I have no trouble celebrating Good Friday, even though I know the crucifixion had to happen earlier.  (Good Wednesday just doesn’t have the same ring to it.)  What is important is not when it happened but that it happened.   And there is no doubt in the Scriptures that the resurrection happened on the first day of the week, our Sunday.  Everyone agrees on that and that is the important part.

But back to John 12.  There is a big dinner party for Jesus in Bethany six days before Passover (five days before the crucifixion).  It is at the house of a man named Simon, who had been healed of the disease ‘Lepra.’  And, of course, Lazarus and his sisters are invited.  It is only fitting that the used-to-be leper invites the used-to-be dead guy to the party.  They have a lot in common.  Lazarus had to have been a popular person now.  Don’t tell me you don’t think somebody at that dinner party wasn’t saying, Hey Lazarus, what was it like being dead?  

Then Mary comes in with an ointment and begins to anoint Jesus’ feet.  What is Mary doing?  It was an expected act of hospitality to anoint a guest in your home with a small portion of oil on their forehead.  But Mary is not the host, and she is not anointing his head but his feet.  And she is using a very expensive ointment instead of common oil.  We are told in our passage that the amount she used would be worth a year’s salary.

To Mary, Jesus is not just another person at the dinner table.  She has sat under his teaching.  He has been in her home many times.  She believes him to be more than just another itinerant rabbi or prophet.  Just a few weeks ago, she watched as he brought her brother back from the dead.  To Mary, Jesus is so much more.  He is her Messiah, the promised one, the anointed one.  And so she pays a dear price, a year’s wages, to anoint Jesus as a way of proclaiming him as not just the Messiah but her Messiah, her anointed one.

Imagine, just a few weeks ago, Mary and her sister lovingly anointed their brother’s dead body with fragrant oils in preparation for burial.  But now Lazarus lives, and the difference is her Messiah.  Now, in her presence is this promised Messiah who is anointed by God to become King.   She is aware that his time is short.  Jesus has not been secretive about this.  He is on his way to Jerusalem, where the religious authorities are going to kill him.  How can she best show her love and devotion to this Messiah who has raised her brother to life?  She can give him her best in anointing him as her King, as her prophet, as her priest.  And she feels she is not worthy even to anoint his head, so she anoints his feet.  She wipes them with her hair.   She lowers herself as a servant to show honor to her king.

And John, in his Gospel, as an eyewitness of Mary’s actions, is struck with one detail:

“The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

The scent fills the room, an important detail we should not miss. Again, this is not just any oil, but the most expensive ointment of nard made from a plant imported to Israel from far away, likely India. It is a powerful fragrance that fills the room.  Only the very wealthy could afford to use any perfume daily.  Perhaps the wealthiest of the religious elite in Jerusalem could use common fragrances on occasion.  But imported ointments like this were reserved for special occasions for kings.  

Throughout the Bible, instead of being crowned during a coronation, Hebrew kings were anointed with sacred oil perfumed with extremely expensive spices used only on kings and in the temple.   The scent of this extravagant perfume would spread far, like a cloud of holiness.  Anyone with that fragrance would be recognized as anointed for a sacred royal purpose.  As Lois Tverberg notes, “In the ancient Middle East, the majesty of a king was expressed not only by what he wore — his jewelry and robes — but by his royal “aroma.”  Even after a king was first anointed, he would perfume his robes with precious oils for special occasions.”¹

Look at part of Psalm 45, which is King David’s wedding psalm.

Psalm 45:7-8   You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
  your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.

The aroma of David’s robes makes it clear to all that he has been anointed by God.

During royal processions, the fragrance of expensive oils would inform the crowds that a king was passing by.  You would note the fragrance of a king even before you could see him.  Look at how Solomon’s procession is described in Song of Solomon:

Song of Solomon 3:6-7   “What is that coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of a merchant? Behold, it is the litter of Solomon! Around it are sixty mighty men, some of the mighty men of Israel…”

Now let’s look at one more procession of Solomon. His coronation entry into Jerusalem.

1 Kings 1:38–40  “So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon. There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”  And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise.”

Solomon was anointed with the oil and fragrance of kings and placed on a donkey and rides into Jerusalem with a procession of people shouting praise of the coming king.  Does this remind you of anything?

It is 6 days before Passover.  And it is not the religious authorities that anoint Jesus. No, they are against him, seeking to kill him.  Instead, it is one of his followers, one of the common people who have seen his miracles and accepted him as their Messiah.  It is a simple woman.  She anoints Jesus, and the following day, he rides a donkey like Solomon on the same path into Jerusalem.  And the crowd is not greeting just any prophet or rabbi.  

They are shouting out “Hosanna!  In Hebrew, that is two words: “Hosha na,” which literally means ‘save, please.’  And they shout, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”  They all know the scripture. They recognize the story of Solomon’s triumphal entry happening again before their eyes, and now they are proclaiming that the promised Son of David, their Messiah, has come.  And he will bring salvation.  And it all began with the anointing by a simple woman who loved him and had faith in him and gave all she had.  And that fragrance of a king remained with Jesus until his death.  Everywhere he went in that final week, his presence would have been preceded by the aroma of a king.  When the soldiers drove the nail into his feet, they would smell the aroma of a king.

The aroma of Christ still persists in our world today.  The fragrance that Mary anointed Jesus with has faded, but it is renewed by every follower today.  Paul recognized this.  Look at the words he used to describe it:

2 Corinthians 2:14-16  “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

That Palm Sunday triumphal procession is a public acknowledgment of faith in the Son of David, the promised Messiah, our anointed one who continues to bring salvation.  It is this proclamation that spreads the knowledge of him everywhere.  We are the aroma of Christ when we lift Him up and share the knowledge of his salvation.  How will you share the knowledge of our Messiah today?  How will you be the aroma of Christ today?  Will you spread the fragrance of the knowledge of him and speak of Him to your friends as you gather in your homes, as you work, as you go on your way? Will you demonstrate your faith in Him by acts of kindness and sacrifice as Mary did to Jesus?   In as much as we do these deeds of kindness to the least of these, we do these things like Mary, directly to Jesus.

We are now the anointed.  We have been set apart by God for a task, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to complete that task. And as the prophet Samuel said, when you are anointed by the Holy Spirit you become a new man.  Just as God anointed Jesus at his baptism with the Holy Spirit, God anoints us with that same spirit.  Paul said it this way:

2 Corinthians 1:21-22  And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

To conclude, go back to what Jesus read from Isaiah in Nazareth:

Luke 4:18-19   The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The year of the Lord’s favor is what we have been talking about this past year.   That period — just over a year of Jesus’ ministry on earth. That is the year of God’s favor — the time that God gave the greatest gift to us in his Son.  

The Spirit of the Lord is upon us.  We have good news for the poor; we have the message of liberty to those held captive by sin, by regret, by addiction.  We have sight for the blind and freedom for those who are oppressed.  It is our ministry now.  We live in a world full of people who feel they have no purpose, people living lives of regret, people who feel they are only failures, people held captive in a depressing world of emptiness.  Will you accept the anointing of God on your life and become that new person, that Holy Spirit-filled person who will fulfill the task God has prepared for you to do?  Will you be the aroma of Christ to a world in need?

1.  Spangler, Ann; Tverberg, Lois. Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus (2009)  Kindle Edition.