Mary and Martha were enamored with the new preacher in town. It had been a long time since they heard anything fresh in church. Saturday after Saturday, same old rabbi, same old stories, but this guy was young, handsome, not to mention - single, and people said he had some new ideas that rocked the old way of doing things. No more stuffy old synagogue! He preached on the street, went to lots of dinner parties with his friends, and told stories about real-life situations. They had heard he even accepted women as learners which was so unlike what they were used to, so they got friendly with this Jesus fellow.

In fact, even though he said he wasn't interested in marriage, they invited him into their home anyway, and he became good friends with their brother Lazarus. Laz and Jesus were tight, so they thought it was rather strange that he stayed out of town that time when their brother was sick - really sick - dying in fact. He didn't come back, which tore up these two fretful sisters.

They were reluctant to even see him when he did get there - sarcastically saying, well, if you had been here, he might not have died. Some teacher! Some friend! He tells us all these things about a good life, a new life, and he's no better than the rabbi who escorted Lazarus' body to the cemetery.

But Jesus does get there, too late, and even as Mary is sobbing at his feet, he says, "Where have you laid him?" Yeah, like it's going to do any good now. He's been in the tomb for days. Jesus' healing powers might have been known far and wide, but not even the best healer can do much about a rotting corpse.

To add pain on top of pain, Jesus asks that the grave be opened. "Doesn't he know how much that's going to stink?" someone asked. Mary said, "Yes after four days, we better get gas masks if we're going to roll back this rock."

As much as they wanted to believe their hearts - they couldn't get past their noses. A stinking dead man offers no life to resuscitate. (John 11: 28-44)

Then as we get to John's gospel today... the very same Mary is at a dinner with Jesus, her sister, and a bunch of other friends. Touched by this man who has become so much a part of their lives, she goes and gets her special jar of perfume, perfume the quality and expense of Chanel No. 5. Then she takes this jar, and breaks it over Jesus' feet. Presumably, he had the chance to wash off the street dust, but feet still being feet, it's rather odd that she gently and lovingly takes them in her hands, rubs them with the perfumed lotion, and wipes them dry with her own hair.

But even as the room fills with a fragrance of unusual beauty, Judas gets offended. "This stinks!" he screams, and says, "This jar of perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor." He couldn't stand the smell of life in the room when his heart had already turned to death.

Paul tells us we are the aroma of Christ. We have the power to offer life to those seeking life, but we may be the smell of death for those who are perishing. In all three of these stories, what stinks for someone who can't see the truth is the very same thing that delivers the aroma of God's life giving presence to those who believe and trust in God's word.

When we hear the story of the prodigal son, we are apt to forget the plight of the elder brother. He cannot join in the celebration. The sounds of joy and the rising smoke as the best calf in the herd was turned to hamburger were too much for him to bear. If he had only been more open, he may have been able to feel God's love through his father's compassion, but instead of softening his heart, he turned cold on his brother. Even though the father offers compassion to both sons in the end, we'll never know if the one who was "more lost" ever truly allows himself to be "found."

For Mary and Martha, there's a different outcome. The gospel writer John wants to make it perfectly clear that Jesus' power and authority have no limits, not even the limit of the grave. So he takes the stink of death in Lazarus' rotting body, and shows these sisters the limitless power of God's amazing grace. What has been unbelief up to this point is transformed into sheer amazement at the workings of this Jesus. The teaching rabbi becomes for these women something new - both "Savior" and "Lord" take on a different meaning after this event.

As for the perishing, like Judas, even the most splendid aroma becomes putrid. Here he was, an eyewitness to Mary's love as she prepared Jesus for his own encounter with death, but rather than be touched by this account, Judas boiled over with anger and contempt upon this relationship. Judas only barely veiled his anger with an attempt at compassion for the poor. "Don't you know," he said, "Don't you know that this jar of perfume could have been sold and fed a hungry family for a year!"

"For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other fragrance from life to life." Perhaps we need to re-train our noses to pick up the scent. It's tough for us to think about those times we've carried the indignant frustration of the elder brother, the skepticism of Mary and Martha, or the self-righteous attitude of Judas. Our noses have been wrong before. The party that offers us life has been going on all around us, and instead we choose to sulk, or take offense, or simply not participate. We have failed to inhale the magnificent aroma of God's love for us in Christ.

It's no secret that in our world, most of us experience that our spiritual senses have been dulled. The only people who seem to hear voices from God get locked up. We see a multiplicity of images day after day on our televisions and computers, but rarely do we see God. However, I think it's our sense of smell that we've denied the most. Since we no longer need it, or at least we don't think we need it, to know if our food is fresh or if our bodies are in danger, we've lost the ability to sense fear in someone else's sweat, or to notice that someone is getting sick, or to just pick up on the subtle cues that tell us if a situation is sweet or sour. We can look at the same situation, and some of us will know the presence of God, some of us will be skeptical if God really can be all that present, and some of us will turn away in disgust because of our own fear or sin.

Again, looking at these three stories and the numerous times that Jesus offers human beings the true abundance of life - there's always a celebration involved - a backyard barbeque, a wake that becomes a welcome back party, a chance to feel the tender touch of love among friends, and the stories only multiply like loaves, and fishes, and bottles of wine. We are due to reclaim the celebration that is our worship and the celebration that is our lives. We need to be able to come to the party knowing our welcome, deepening our belief, and sharing our love. Life is meant to be enjoyed like the smell of a sweet perfume or the mouth watering scents that come from your favorite kitchen. We need to familiarize ourselves with the fragrance, as Paul puts it, that comes from knowing Christ.

An article came across my desk this week that says even more perfectly what I'm trying to get across this morning. Jane Vann, a professor of mine from Union, observes that even in many thriving churches, there seems to be something missing. People are involved, active, doing all the right things, participating in Sunday School, youth groups, and choir, and yet, the smell is off. What's happening, she says, is really hard to describe or explain exactly, but it seems to be that we are missing the Spirit of worship, and we've not been experiencing the presence of God, least of all in church. As an educator, she says that all areas of the church's life should be teaching areas where we discover the grace of God, and that means everything from the classes you take, to working for Ecumenical Storehouse, to singing in the choir -- but instead we've started to leave that part out and instead become more of a social club that does good things. Outside of worship itself, when do we pray together? We need to start praying again, start asking the questions -- "Where is God?" and "How can I bring God's presence into my life?" We need to observe the sights, sounds, smells, and touch of relationship with one another and with Christ. "We are the aroma of Christ to God" -- and we nurture the love of that fragrance by testing our spiritual discoveries, and through making Christ an important part of everything we are. Amen.