Thursday, March 14, 2013

John 11 & 12 are smelly

What is the aromour of these chapters?

At the end of John chapter 11 the people are afraid that the decomposing Lazarus will stink.

And death does indeed stink. It is horrible and unnatural and vile and evil and wrong. Or at least, death without Christ is like that.

But then at the beginning of chapter 12 there is another fragrance. Again it is the smell of death, but with a very different perfume: this is the aromour of Christ's death as he is annointed with expensive pure nard in preparation for his burial. The whole house is filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Although we can only catch the faintest whiff of it, and death still has its stinky aspects, death with Christ is sweet: it ends our suffering and ushers us into the fuller enjoyment of the presence of God.  Though our bodies will rot, may God enable us to catch something of this aromour on the wind of the Spirit.

Oh, and also 1 Cor 2:14ff


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