Love smells... awkward?
Went to see 'The Shack' last night....
This morning those some of those thoughts about
Papa God, Jesus and Holy Spirit
were still bubbling in my brain...
Then in my devotional time I 'watched' Mary come and
pour a jar of expensive oil on Jesus' head.
Never quite impacted me like this before.
What would it have been like for a....
woman
in a male dominant society
to step up to Jesus
- the Leader
- the Messiah
- The Son of God
to walk over
break the seal
and pour expensive aromatic oil all over his head
running down his face and hair
on his clothes
maybe even on the table or the benches or the carpets....
such a cost
such a mess
such a powerful aromatic scent
such a show of unabashed love...
INAPPROPRIATE! the voice in everyone's head must have been yelling.
such a risk.
social norms pushed aside
awkward, forward, not caring what others thought or said....
AND
the pushback did happen.
The leaders in the room knew that this needed to be 'dealt' with...
needed to stop.
The murmur the talk...
the rebuke...
"for shame, for shame
what a waste"....
could have helped poor people...
would have been so much better...
But
Jesus stopped that.
He 'covered' her.
He declared her risk
and sacrifice
not just appropriate
but maybe even
the bare minimum of what should have been done....
to prepare his body for burial.
... read about it in Mark 14:3-9
and I wonder...
was the smell of that nard on him
when they laid him in the tomb?
The smell of love...
The smell of risk...
...I am guessing
Yes.
So Jesus....
What are You teaching me today?
What does this event
told down through the ages
as You declared it should be.
speak to me today?
A call for me to
To grab hold of the moment
and not lose the opportunity
because it might be
awkward....
or
inappropriate
or
too vulnerable
and You will 'cover' me
even if it is....
Thank You for calling me
to live 'out on a limb'
in this journey of listening to Your Spirit
with my heart
Yeah.
PJ