Lenten Reflection - Day 12, March 14

Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
John 12:3

Additional Reading: Mark 14:1-9

Every death comes as a shock. Even a death we have prepared for. When Mary takes her vial of costly perfume and pours it over Jesus, she can only have an inkling of the significance of what she is doing. But Jesus knows. How shocking it is to hear Him speak of his imminent burial. It is the last thing the disciples can bear to think about.

Driving past a graveyard, it is difficult to think of each stone as representing a real person, alive and sparkling, loving and working. Did all of them expect death to come? Were they prepared? And me—my death could come at any moment. It is not death that fills my mind with anxiety, but the raw truth is that it is I who shall certainly die.

The pathway to a holy death runs directly through a holy life. Living is the only available preparation for death. Holy living is life broken open and poured out on Jesus’ feet in small ways, every day. It is dying so many little deaths that the big comes to look like a beginning and not an end. Holy living fills the world with the sweet fragrance of sacrifice.

Holy living isn’t always practical. But it is always loving. Spill yourself out for the sake of love and you will discover that life and death takes on a new meaning.

Prayer: Father, we are so prone to live as if life will never end for us here. But today we acknowledge the certain truth that it will. Help me to redeem the time and use my days well. Lead me in holy living for your Kingdom’s sake. And strengthen my by your Holy Spirit to be strength to those who face the shadows of death unprepared. Amen.