Absolution
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| Spikenard, found in the Himalayan mountains of India |
10th April 2017
Almighty God,
who forgives all who truly repent,
have mercy upon you,
pardon and deliver you from all your sins,
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness,
and keep you in life eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
who forgives all who truly repent,
have mercy upon you,
pardon and deliver you from all your sins,
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness,
and keep you in life eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Spikenard comes from the exotic mountain country of North India. It is the source of the rich perfume of Mary, of Bethany, which she lavished upon Jesus according to John's Gospel. And in the Anglican tradition, it is the story we remember on the Monday of Holy Week. It speaks of the extravagance of Mary's love for Jesus. It also speaks prophetically of the extravagant love of Jesus, whose body she is anointing for burial ahead of his crucifixion.
The Anointing at Bethany, as the story is known, comes a few days after Lazarus, Mary and Martha's beloved brother, had been raised from the dead. There is an air of celebration and joyous friendship as she and Martha host a meal for all Jesus' disciples as they get ready for the Feast of Passover later in the week. Only, this story is overlaid with other meanings.
The £30,000 bottle of perfume may have been Mary's dowry or life-savings. Pouring all of it over Jesus was an act of extraordinary scandal, really. No wonder the scent of it filled her house, even, perhaps, sending a cloud of perfume out in to the neighbourhood. It was also interpreted by Jesus as Mary's preparation of his body for burial ahead of his death. I wonder how much Jesus' feet still smelt of the scent of the spikenard as nails were hammered into his ankles? In fact, would everyone who was there that evening have smelled strongly of the perfume as they walked the streets in the coming days. They were all marked, anointed, in one way or the other. It remained a very strong memory years later when John, the beloved disciples, wrote down the account.
Forgiveness is like an anointing. The words of the absolution (see above) do not come with accompanying scents. But if they did, perhaps the smell of forgiveness of sins, in all its extravagance, would be the perfume of nard.
Smell is a very powerful sense. A few years ago I completely lost all sense of smell and taste for one whole year. This significantly diminished my quality of life. Food was utterly tasteless although I learnt to appreciate the textures of different foods. I couldn't enjoy the smell of the outdoors, flowers, freshly mown grass. Life was dulled.
ReplyDeleteNumerous hospital tests and investigations diagnosed an allergy to unknown chemicals, although my own theory was that it was the chlorine in the public swimming pools where I used to swim very regularly. I gave up swimming and my smell and taste were gradually restored.
The smell of bleach has been reported by medical staff to be the smell of the victims of the alleged chemical attack in Syria, in which chlorine may have been used. The smell of death hangs over that war torn country.
St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2 v.15 "For we are the aroma of Christ".
Christ calls us to be the aroma of life not death, the smell of the fulness of life not dulled and tasteless living, the aroma of love, mercy and grace.
At my previous church anointing was offered maybe two or three times a year. I'd never been in a church where it happened before and it was described to me as a blessing. At college I had learnt about anointing being the sign of God's calling, specifically for prophets, priests and kings and I took it as a sign of God's love and graciousness to me and a sign that he had special things for me to do.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it was just the sign of the cross on my forehead; sometimes it was on my palms as well. The anointing oil had a perfume and to smell it on my hands was lovely and I wanted never to wash my hands so that the physical anointing stayed with me. On my forehead it became an assurance of God's love, presence and healing for me; on my hands it became a sign of God's call to service and God's promise of help to perform that service.
I'd never thought before of the amount of ointment that Mary used or that the smell of it would have permeated the clothes and hair of everyone there and still have been on Jesus' feet at the crucifixion, but it fits with the abundance of oil poured over the head in the OT descriptions. Mary was anointing Jesus not just for burial, but also as prophet, priest and king
The association between spikenard and forgiveness reminded me of Psalm 51.
ReplyDelete" Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean.."
Hyssop is a shrub, that in the Old Testament, was used in purification ceremonies conducted by the priest, such as when a leper had been cured. The herb used in this ceremony had a similar fragrance to oregano. It was also hyssop that was used to smear the blood of the lamb on the doorposts during the Passover. Hyssop signified purification. For the Passover, it signified the purity of Jewish people, God's people.
Hyssop also has significance in the New Testament. Jesus was given a drink of wine vinegar on a sponge stuck to the end of a stalk of hyssop. This was Jesus' last deed before his declaration that his work on earth was complete. He purified us from our sin.
" Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean..."