Palm Sunday!

S𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗹. That oh so important sense that can take us back within seconds to our childhood or to a memorable event. The smell of the first rains on dry and dusty soil brings me straight back to Africa. Often when my husband hugs me, I like to breathe in deeply as the smell of his aftershave makes me feel safe and after 25 years of marriage is one of beautiful familiarity. But the fragrance of potpourri can make me feel nauseous straight away as it reminds me of my pregnancy when the tiniest whiff made me feel sick!

Anointing oil was very important in Israel, and very expensive. Many oils were much more costly than diamonds and were a sign of great wealth. Each King and Priest was anointed prior to their taking office, the aroma advancing before them so that everyone would know – the King, the King is coming! Now when the new King was anointed, they didn’t just drip a drop on his forehead, no – this could be as much as a pint of fragrant perfume! Let’s take a quick look at a story back in the Old Testament, an occasion of celebration, great joy, the anointing of the future King of Israel, King Solomon – “𝑺𝒐 𝒁𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒕, 𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒊𝒂𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒂𝒅𝒂, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅’𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒊𝒉𝒐𝒏. 𝒁𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒊𝒍 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒅, “𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏!” 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅.” 1 Kings 1:38-40. This was quite the party, the people of Israel rejoiced so much that the ground literally shook. Zadok the priest took that anointing oil and poured it over Solomon, the smell would have been strong, radiating out through the crowd.

Fast forward to the week before Jesus’ death on the cross. Palm Sunday, also known as the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒎. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒑𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, “𝑯𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂!” “𝑩𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅!” “𝑩𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒍!” 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏: “𝑫𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝑫𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒁𝒊𝒐𝒏; 𝒔𝒆𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒚’𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒕.” John 12:12-15. Incredible similarity!

But where was the fragrance? Where was the anointing oil with the Kingly aroma that would have told the crowd surrounding Him that Jesus was the King of Israel?

For that answer we need to go back to the night before! Once again Jesus was at Martha’s house dining with Lazarus and many of his other friends. “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.

How I love Mary, always doing something unexpected, her love for Jesus always on display! Mary took a pound – that’s nearly two cups- of extremely expensive oil and washed Jesus’ feet with it, using her beautiful hair as a rag! Mary, in an act of absolute humility, laid her self-worth at Jesus’ feet, tenderly using her hair to clean away the dust and dirt from the day. Her actions saying, “𝐼 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝑒, 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻-𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒽, 𝓂𝓎 𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓉𝓎, 𝓂𝓎 𝒹𝒾𝑔𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝒾𝓃𝓎 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝓅𝒾𝑒𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻.” “And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” Not too surprising when you consider the amount of oil Mary poured out.

And so, our sweet Mary fulfilled that part of the story. Perhaps the part of the story where the fragrance of Christ began, the fragrance of the King of Kings and LORD of Lords. The fragrance of the Great I Am, YHWH. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the deep fragrance of spikenard went before Him, almost like the dot on the i or the cross on a t. This is the King of Israel. In the final week before the cross everywhere Jesus went, He would have carried the fragrance of the King with him, it would have said to the Roman soldier, “𝗜 𝗔𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀,” to Herod and Pilate, “𝗜 𝗔𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀,” to all those who mocked Him, beat Him and put Him to death, “𝗜 𝗔𝗠 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹!”