THE LETTER

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on His feet and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. John 12:3 NIV

We’ve started choir practice for the Easter cantata, so my mind is on Resurrection Sunday and Good Friday. This is probably what you’ll get for the next few weeks.

Crucifixion is maximum bad, especially if you’re innocent, but Jesus’ dread in Gethsemane was even more about the pending separation from His Father. God would turn from the sin His Son bore—our sin—and leave Him to suffer alone.

But was He alone?

From the triumphal entry, through His final, fruitless efforts to persuade the lost sheep of Israel. Through the last supper in the upper room where his disciples argued for position and Judas left to betray Him. Through the lonely agony of Gethsemane when His three closest disciples abandoned Him in sleep. Through the beatings, the putdowns, the crown of thorns, the injustices of His illegal trials. Through Peter’s denial. Down the Via Dolorosa with the rough cross grinding into the raw, naked flesh of His back. Enduring the nails hammered into the major nerves of His wrists, into the bones of His feet. Enduring the mockery of those He was dying for. Seeing His mother’s suffering.

And over it all, the crushing weight of every sin of every person, every sin past, present and future.

Add to that the sight of His Father’s back as He turned His face from those sins. But there was no hiding the Father’s broken heart. This, too, He bore.

Alone?

Never.

God will not leave us—or His only begotten Son—without comfort. (Isaiah 49:13) Through it all, the constant odor of a love letter from a grateful child of God: “Your suffering is not in vain. Some love You, and will love You. Some will accept Your sacrifice and sit with You in Heaven.”

Did Mary realize how great her deed really was? Little is much when God is in it.

Avi, let my life be just such a love letter to You. Let the fragrance of my words poured at Your feet fill this world. In Your holy name, Amen