A Holy Week Devotion: Who Is At the Center of Your Worship?

I recount my steps in slow motion. Somehow my hand inadvertently brushed the glass bottle of expensive perfume, and it suddenly burst into a million shards upon the tiled floor. Within seconds the strong aroma permeated the air and I was exported to my wedding day.

Our senses have a keen way of infusing our hearts with sentiments and longing. A song, a smell, a color, or a texture can “remind us when”. For eighteen years, I wore this perfume on each anniversary. In a split second, the aroma took me back to the moment I walked down the aisle, face to face with my husband as we crossed over into a covenant of love.

I soaked up perfume and vacuumed away shards, yet my heart grieved the costly accident. “I can’t believe this just happened”, I thought to myself.

I whispered reminders that it’s just perfume. It’s not life and death, but sadness permeated my heart while the memorable scent filled the room.

Moments later, my mind drifted to Mary Magdalene on hands and knees soaking the feet of Jesus with her costly oil just days before his death. I imagined what it must have smelled like in that room and how it foreshadowed the events to come.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred Denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:1–8 ESV)

I’m taken back by Mary’s devotion despite her reputation. Culturally, her motives were questioned because of her background, yet she didn’t let other’s opinions deter her from serving the One most worthy of her worship.

She was not enslaved to the lure of earthly pleasures. Mary willingly broke costly oil because worshiping Jesus was more valuable. As Judas pointed out, she could have profited from the perfume, yet in her heart she knew Jesus was better. He was her treasure.

Over the coming weeks, as we journey toward remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus, I’m mindful that the aroma of my life is representative of who or what is at the center of my worship.

I’m reminded that worship is costly—Jesus’ love for us, out of obedience to His Father, cost Him everything.

I’m also mindful that Jesus’ blood sealed a covenant of love with me that cannot be broken.

May this encourage us on our journey.

Jesus has overcome so that you may overcome.

Jesus has conquered death, so that you may not live in fear of the unknowns.

Jesus has made a way to full and final rest, so that you are no longer enslaved to performance or the deceitful riches of earthly possessions.

Jesus truly is worthy of our fullest worship.

Thanks be to God.