Clutching the Purse or Pouring the Oil?
(Lent week 5 Meditation- John 12:1-8)

If you had to name the smell of your life right now… what would it be? Don’t overthink it. Just go with your gut.

Burnt toast? Lavender? Wet dog? Gasoline? Fresh bread? Nothing at all?

Smell has power. It’s primal, instinctual, unfiltered. So is true worship (think “worth”ship.)

In John 12, Jesus is six days away from death. Tension in the air. Betrayal on the horizon. The air smells like dinner… until it doesn’t. Mary of Bethany breaks open a jar of nard—worth a year’s wages—and pours it all over Jesus’ feet. No words. Just an offering. The house is filled with the fragrance.

A house filled with the smell of surrender.

And Judas? He’s not having it.

“Should’ve been sold. Could’ve helped the poor. We’ve got business to conduct” Classic misdirection. The text is clear—he didn’t care about the poor. He cared about the purse.

Two disciples. Two paths:

• Judas: Calculating, cynical, clutching control.
• Mary: Embodied, intuitive, wildly generous.

Judas positions. Mary pours. Judas critiques. Mary weeps. Judas power plays. Mary breaks the jar.

Jesus doesn’t just defend her—he names the prophet in their midst: “Leave her alone. She did this for my burial.”

Mary had been paying attention from the beginning. Listening. Sitting at Jesus’ feet. Now grieving the reality. She wasn’t caught off guard by the cross—she was prepared for it. Her gift wasn’t practical. It was prophetic.

The whole room shifted because Mary dared to break the script.

This isn’t just about money. It’s about what kind of disciple you are.

• Are you hiding behind strategy or risking for love?
• Are you obsessed with appearances or aligned with the Spirit?
• Are you following Jesus with your life or just your belifs and opinions?

Here’s the edge: Sometimes faith stinks. Sometimes love costs. And sometimes discipleship means leaving a scent people won’t forget—even if they don’t understand it.

Mary’s action was a holy disruption in a patriarchal system that often silenced women. Her anointing of Jesus could be seen as sacred resistance—naming death when others wanted denial, honoring Jesus’ suffering when others were dismissive.

Mary steps into sacred space and prophetic imagination. She anoints what others ignore: the truth of pain and the promise of resurrection. This is what healed people do—they tell the truth in love.

Mary is a weeping prophet. In the book “the Tears of Things” Richard Rohr says tears are the evidence of love and liberation. Shane Claiborne reminds us that Jesus didn’t say, “Go make believers.” He said, “Make disciples.” Interpretation: Prophets aren’t cruel, they weep. Followers don’t say they believe their belief lives sacrificially for the sake of other.

Disciples waste perfume. Disciples leave a holy mess behind them that smells like eternity.

So here’s your practice: Hold a bottle of essential oil. Let it represent something costly to you. Now break it—figuratively or literally. Let it rise like a prayer:

“Jesus, this is my alabaster jar. I’ve held it close. I’ve counted its value. But now, I break it. Receive it. Let my life smell like love.”

Because if your life doesn’t smell like love… what does it smell like?

May you live as Mary lived: Fully present. Prophetically attuned. Courageously generous.

And may your holy scent disrupt the room.

Amen.

You can join us online or in person for retreats and training`