(NRSV) Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Beth'any, the home of Laz'arus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Laz'arus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscar'iot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
Oh the scent of fragrant perfume! The pound of perfume could have been sold for 300 denarii, which is about a years salary. A years salary in the 49424 Zip Code is $72,000. No one here makes THAT much do they? Perhaps all of us are closer to the national average of $36,000 a year. I did a Google search and found the most expensive perfume in the world. It is from the Clive Christian Collection, called Number One (pictured above) and sells for $2,350 per ounce. Yes, Number One, much better than Chanel Number 5 In November of 2005, Harrods sold an exclusive version of this perfume. The bottle contained a half litre of perfume and was made of cut glass topped off with a large diamond and collar of 18 karat gold. It sold for about $215,000 or 170,000 British Pounds.
Nard: a Himalayan flowering plant and the fragrant oil derived from its root (possibly a citrus aroma)
There weren't a lot of ways to save money in the First Century. One way was to bury in the ground and find it later. Much later, people have found coins buried in the ground and old coins aren't very rare for that reason. Another method was to buy something of value and keep it your house and sell it later in hard times. Apparently the jar of pure oil of nard was Mary's savings and she broke it open and poured it on Jesus. She literally poured out her life savings.
There were two types of giving 1) Alms giving to the poor--money is handed out in small increments on a as needed basis. We saw this a lot in Madagascar. The poor would come into the shops daily and receive a few small coins, less than a penny in value. Shoppers would bump shoulders with them as made their way in and out of the place. We do something similar with the Silent Needs Fund. We give a little of our budget to help people as needed. Judas was saying that the perfume should have been just that, a small act, not an act of love. 2) Act of Love--Making a dent in our income so that we feel it and it hurts. We should feel it. Cynthia's father, a Presbyterian Minister stepped up to tithing. After about three years he met another pastor at a conference who was talking about tithing. He said to him, "I tithe and I don't even feel it." The other pastor responded, "then you should give 20 per cent" The point it is that giving out love should be felt.
Jesus smells good and is ready for his crucifixion. He will smell good for the rest of the week. He is going to the cross for the joy of it. Medieval teachings make it clear that we should feel sorry for Jesus--sorry that he died. Feeling sorry for Jesus makes us feel sorry for our sins. Jesus calls his death his moment of glory. His crucifixion is his glorification, a true moment of great joy.
Paul talks of another scent or smell; Philippians 3:8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. The translators wanted to use pretty words rather than the real ones. They used the prettier word rubbish and he Greek word here is skubala, which is a four lettered word in English, dung. Our earthly things do not smell as sweet as the act of giving from Love.
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