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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are John 12; Deuteronomy 15; 1 Kings 1; Isaiah 39.
John 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 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. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 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. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
Let my prayers rise before you as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. – Psalm 141:2
The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. – John 12:3
Some people do not like fragrances. They become ill. They have a allergic reaction. Most people don’t really like smoke. It irritates the eyes and lungs. It obscures landscapes. Where it is there is fire.
God, however, likes both. Prayers arising before him as incense are a good thing. Jesus recognized the aroma of the nard filling the house of Lazarus and his sisters for what it was: an offering of love and an anointing in anticipation of Jesus’ death.
Lazarus, Mary and Martha knew something of death. They had seen it up close. They feared the smell of decay after four days. But the deep pain of death – at which Jesus himself wept – was replaced by the word of Jesus.
Now, however, a even more grievous death loomed. Jesus would soon be dead. Nothing would prevent it. Nothing will delay it. So Mary who had sat at Jesus’ feet while Martha had served, sits at his feet again. This time she sits there to pour out the nard. Expensive. Fragrant. Prophetic.
Judas will protest: this is wasteful. Others will wonder: why is he allowing her to do this? Jesus will put them all straight. Love is extravagant. It grows from hearts deeply touched by God’s love. It pours out expensive offerings. It moves the Lord of Creation to offer himself as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. Love does that – no matter what criticisms may come.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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