Summary: "When we lift our hands in praise and worship, we break spiritual jars of perfume over Jesus. The fragrance of our praise fills the whole earth and touches the heart of God." - Dennis Ignatius The smell of chlorine wafts through the air. Suddenly, you recall childhood memories of summers spent in a swimming pool you haven't seen in years. Or perhaps it's a whiff of apple pie or the scent of the perfume your grandmother wore or maybe incense from an old church, and memories come flooding in. Scientists say that while words go to the thinking part of the brain, smells-fragrances--go to the emotional part, the amygdala. That's why a whiff of Grandma's perfume brings Grandma herself back for a brief moment, and for some, why a bit of incense is the smell of the divine. This passage from John's gospel is a "fragrant" text. Jesus' friend Mary--she is only named in John--takes a box of very expensive perfume and with it she bathes the feet of Jesus. Scholars say that the perfume was worth in today's currency as much as $10,000. It may strike us as strangely sensual when Mary wipes the perfume into his feet with her long, flowing hair. It's an amazing scene. Matthew in his gospel adds a memorable remark from Jesus: "I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."
