How Do You Smell?

Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
(John 12:3)
This must have been a strange and shocking scene for some of the people attending dinner at Mary’s house. She, seemingly with no notice, pours a pound of very expensive oil onto Jesus’ feet. The value of the spikenard oil was said to be the equivalent of one year’s wages. This does seem to be an extravagant thing to do. This oil could have served many purposes over many years but it got used up all at once and it was gone.
Mary, what have you done? You worked so long and hard for this precious stuff. Now it’s gone. Why?
The answer of course is that Jesus would only be there with them for a few more days and somehow Mary sensed this. Soon her Master would be gone and then the oil would be useless because there was no one else worthy to be lavished with such a precious thing; its fragrance filled the house. Only Jesus was worthy.
The life of a Christian is like this oil. The question is what will we spend our lives on? As Mary did with the oil, let us spend our self for Christ.
Let’s love people; including family, friends and strangers as Christ loves them and gave His life for them. When we are in a dark situation we can be the light as Christ is the light of the world.
Some will say you are wasting your life as Judas said to Mary. As a Christian you are a rare commodity. There are thousands of doctors, professors, scientists, bus drivers, beauticians and athletes to name a few professions, but whatever your profession is you carry the fragrance of Christ to it. That makes you precious. That makes you different. That makes you special in a way that no one can be without having Jesus Christ in their life. The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 2:15 put it this way “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” People still speak of Mary’s sacrificial act for the Savior.
As I look back on my life I want to be able to say “That smells good. My life was precious oil that carried Christ’s love to others.” It might be strange and shocking to people you know when they see you doing things that are out of the ordinary. Feeding the homeless, visiting nursing homes, teaching Sunday school, praying, reading a Christian book, passing out gospel tracts at the bus stop are things that even the majority of people don’t do. Why be like them? They don’t have the fragrance of the oil.