The five senses we humans have are always at work in us: sight, taste, hear, touch and smell. Senses help to make us better aware of our surroundings. When we hear a door open or close we know someone has just walked through that door, even if we don’t see them or touch them. Our senses help us anticipate what might be coming in the future. When we see dark clouds and hear the crack of thunder we can anticipate rain will soon be falling. Senses also can trigger memories from the past that usually have an emotion attached to that memory. One of my fondest childhood memories is of my mother making bread in our kitchen on Saturdays, marked most notably by the powerful smell of the bread baking in the oven. To this day, when I smell bread baking, I remember my mother and the way she served our family by making bread. Any one of the senses on their own can have a great effect on us, but when we experience two or three or four at a time the effect on us is powerful. 

When Mary anointed Jesus with perfume in John 12 it was seen by others, it was felt by her and Jesus, the breaking of the bottle was heard and most notably, the smell of the perfume filled the room. This was a multi-sensory event that was intended to have a powerful effect on those present to see it. And it did. The consensus reaction of people present that day was to question why she made this extravagant and costly act. The cost of the perfume is estimated to be a value of an entire year’s wages for the average person in Israel at that time. That is a fair question: Why did Mary make such an extravagant sacrifice when she anointed Jesus? The most obvious reason, and what likely was her motivation, was as an act of thanksgiving to Jesus for bringing her brother Lazarus back to life just 6 months earlier. But the text reveals to us an unknown reason to her. This was the anointing of Jesus in anticipation of his burial in just a week’s time. If you remember the events of the crucifixion, because the Sabbath was about to start they had to hurriedly take Jesus’ dead body to the tomb with no time to properly anoint him with oils and perfumes as was the custom. Unwittingly, Mary foreshadowed the events of the cross in this act, and in her multi-sensory act, she offered thankfulness for the greatest act of love toward mankind; Jesus suffering and death on the cross. 

At Thanksgiving you likely experienced all the senses that hopefully led you to give thanks for other people, the material blessings you have as well as all the intangibles you can’t sense. In our thanksgiving this week, let us pause with Mary to offer thanksgiving to Jesus for the great gift of salvation He has given us through His death on the cross. Join us this Sunday as we consider all the Thanksgiving Senses.