Aroma of Devotion

Sermon Summary:

Hey everyone, We're starting a journey towards the cross of Christ, looking at the last week of Jesus' life, and we begin with a very famous story you probably know well: Jesus' anointing at Bethany in John chapter 12. You know how smell is memory's alarm clock? Nothing brings you back to a moment like a scent. John chapter 12 is full of smells. There's a dinner party in Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem, and it smells like dinner. Then Mary does something truly outrageous. She opens a flask of perfume and anoints Jesus with it, and John tells us the entire house filled with the smell of that perfume. Mary's act teaches us something profound: when we worship the Lord Jesus Christ without conditions, we find that things we once undervalued are turned on their head and become valuable again. Jesus's love is so real and costly that it changes what we think is valuable. True devotion to Christ is unconditional, both in its cost and in its delight, and it flows from a heart transformed by the gospel. Mary's devotion, however, exposes something in us. We don't naturally worship Jesus unconditionally. Our value to Christ, if we're honest, is quite conditional. We calculate, asking "What does it cost me?" instead of "What is He worth?" Like Judas, we often measure everything by cost instead of love. John 12 invites us to see what happens when the worth of Christ finally breaks open in our midst, when the aroma of devotion fills the room and we reorder what we think is worthy of our adoration. Mary teaches us at least three things through her actions. First, she pours out a pound of expensive, pure nard, worth about a year's wage. This shows there's no condition of cost in her devotion. She will not love Jesus with limits; her devotion isn't measured by money, but by the disposition of her heart. Second, she anoints Jesus' feet. In that culture, touching someone's feet was unthinkable, even for a servant. Yet, Mary gives up her status and rights, anointing the "untouchable" feet of Jesus. She's saying there's no condition of status in her service. Third, she wipes his feet with her hair. This was a public act of incredible intimacy, something a woman would only do in the confines of her home. Mary lets down her hair, showing there's no condition of intimacy. She's saying, "Lord, my love is yours, my heart is yours. You're not just my duty, you're my delight." I have to ask you, do you put conditions on your adoration of Jesus? Do you calculate what's reasonable? Do you say, "I trust Him to give Him everything, but not reserve"? True love for Christ doesn't say, "I will give, but only so far." God doesn't just want your duty; He wants your delight. It's possible to do the right things—to give, to serve, to obey—and yet for the heart to be cold and detached. John then contrasts Mary's devotion with Judas's betrayal. Judas questions the "waste" of the perfume, suggesting it should have been sold for the poor, but John reveals he was a thief. Judas wanted the perfume's value, not Jesus's beauty. This highlights two options for the human heart: worship or judgment, adoration or accusation. Are you sold out for Jesus, or are you constantly wondering what your devotion will cost you? Are you pursuing the Lord Jesus because of what He gives you, or are you delighting in Him for who He is? Betrayal doesn't start with hatred; it starts with misplaced value. So, how do we get this kind of unconditional desire, where duty turns into delight? You can't do it on your own. But Mary teaches us how: it comes from gazing at the cross. Jesus defends Mary, saying she saved the perfume for His burial. Mary understood Jesus's impending death, likely from sitting at His feet and listening to Him. Her heart broke open when she realized He was going to die for her. Her anointing was a preparation for His burial and an anointing of Him as King. Scholars believe that pure nard stuck to the skin for days. It's quite possible that when Jesus went before Pilate, when He was beaten, and when He went to the cross, He still smelled of Mary's perfume. That Roman guard, amidst the smell of iron and blood, caught a whiff of Mary's spice on Jesus's feet. And Jesus did it for you. Only as you gaze at the cross can your heart melt. When Mary perceived that Jesus was about to give His life for her, she said, "Lord, you can have everything that I am. All my possessions, all my status, all my intimacy. I will serve you without condition." So, how about us? Smell is memory's greatest alarm clock. Are you able to recognize that the smell of the Lord Jesus Christ on that cross was filled with the perfume of devotion? And I wonder if you are able to serve Him as Mary did, without condition. What kind of smell sticks to your clothes, sinks into the fabric in your presence? We are to be the aroma of Christ. Jesus's love is so real and so costly that it changes what we value. Is that true for you? True devotion to Christ is unconditional, both in its cost and its delight, and it flows from a heart that is transformed by the gospel. When the awareness of the gospel grips you, it will fill your life with a grace that never fades. I pray that you are able to serve Him without conditions, to say, "Lord, my love is yours, my heart is yours. You're not just my duty, you're my delight." May all of our conditions melt away for His glory's sake.