Today’s gospel reading portrays Jesus in the midst of many people. We focus on two – Mary, the sister to Lazarus, and Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’s disciples.

Mary breaks open an expensive jar of aromatic spikenard (an aromatic plant) and pours it over the feet of Jesus. Its aroma fills the home. Judas becomes indignant over the “waste” because of what he sees as a way to fill the moneybags for the poor. In Mary’s poorness, her richness outshines Judas’s self-righteous and richness. These two characters’ deeds are the antithesis of the other.

We can offer Jesus our poorness, our inability to save ourselves, and in doing so, become rich in salvation. Or, we can become blind by greed, distrust or self-righteous piety and overlook the gift of eternal life that is ours only in our humble poorness. Whatever our choice, our actions will fill our homes with the sweet aroma of love or the stench of selfishness.

May our thoughts, words and deeds fill our homes and the world with the sweet smells of salvation that Jesus offers and delivers.