The sweet smell of death

Sermon for Palm Sunday

Philippians 2:5-11  +  Matthew 21:1-9  +  Matthew 26-27

Just a few words this morning; you’ve already heard the Passion History, and you’ll hear it again and again this week—the same story but with a few extra details each time and a slightly different perspective provided by each Evangelist, and each day we’ll focus for a few moments on a different aspect of that Passion History.

Today, on Palm Sunday, we focus on Jesus’ humble but triumphal entry into Jerusalem. You’re familiar with the donkey and with the prophecies of Israel’s king riding into Jerusalem in humility to save His people from their sins. You’re familiar with the Palm branches, with the loud Hosanna’s that were sung. But what is that sweet smell coming from Jesus as He passes by?

It’s from the night before Palm Sunday, when Jesus was in Bethany, at Simon the Leper’s house for a supper in Jesus’ honor, as you heard at the beginning of the Passion History. It’s John who tells us when exactly that meal took place, and that the woman who anointed Jesus there with that expensive perfume was actually Mary, the sister of Martha and of Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead not long before this, and that she anointed not only Jesus’ head, but also His feet, and wiped them with her hair. The perfume, the fragrant oil that she spent on Jesus was worth about a year’s wages. And the scent of it—a whole pound of it!—must have still lingered till the next day, and very possibly throughout the week.

By the end of that week, that same head, now fragrant with perfume, would be crowned with thorns and dripping with blood. By the end of that week, those same feet would be pierced by a nail and pinned to a cross. By the end of that week, the body of Jesus would lie buried in a tomb.

And Mary knew it. Because she’d been listening. The disciples thought it was a waste on Mary’s part, to lavish such a costly gift on Jesus—a gift better given to the poor. But He defended her: Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.

That was the last straw for Judas. It’s what sent him running to the chief priests, ready to betray Jesus into their hands. Why? Because he was so disappointed in Jesus. Because he thought this Christ would bring him earthly glory—riches, power, comfort, respect. But all Jesus turned out to be was a Christ who was determined to die.

Please, take the time this week to come and to hear, to meditate on Jesus’ determination to die, with the love and the devotion of Mary, because, for as gruesome as the story is, there’s a sweet smell underneath, the sweet smell of death. You can still catch it as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He goes willingly to His death so that we might live. He suffers for our sins so that we might go free. He is wounded so that we might be healed. He is buried in the earth, but only till the third day, when the sweet smell of death turns into the sweet smell of victory, for Jesus, and for all who are not disappointed in Him. Amen.