Things happen when we give our praise, our thanksgiving, and our worship to Jesus. The Psalmist reminds us that the Lord takes His place or “inhabits the praises” of those who love and follow Him. Worship is such an integral response to God’s goodness and God’s Presence that, if we shut it down, the pebbles and rocks will take up the celebration.

Jesus stayed with his friend, Simon, who used to be a leper, and he had dinner with his disciples and some of the followers who had become close friends in the Jerusalem suburb of Bethany. Meals were “semi-public” events and people came and went to check things out.

A woman (it may have been Mary, whose brother was Lazarus owned a nearby house) brought a sealed alabaster jar of concentrated ointments and oils she had purchased for this special act of worship. She broke the top off and drizzled, then poured the fragrant oils over Jesus’ head until it spilled down his beard and all the way to his feet. It covered and soaked him.

She understood. She knew Jesus was heading toward Jerusalem and wouldn’t survive the week. And this oil, normally meant to be spread across the flaccid skin of a dead body, was poured onto her source of life: Jesus.

She was content to love him and worship him. And the scent lingered in the room. In fact, the powerful and intense fragrance that had soaked into His skin may have scented the scene of the Cross as Jesus sweated and bled for your sins and mine, and Mary’s, too.

When we worship, we change the atmosphere. There is a scent, a fragrance to our worship and praise. Let it linger through the week.

He is Risen.

“When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper, a woman came up to him as he was eating dinner and anointed him with a bottle of very expensive perfume. When the disciples saw what was happening, they were furious. “That’s criminal! This could have been sold for a lot and the money handed out to the poor.”

When Jesus realized what was going on, he intervened. “Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives, but not me. When she poured this perfume on my body, what she really did was anoint me for burial. You can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she has just done is going to be remembered and admired.” Matthew 26:6-13