“Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God’s people on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.” Revelation 8:3
Props: Several strong-smelling ingredients (such as onion, garlic, cilantro, horseradish, ramps), incense or anointing oils and/or candles
Those of you who love cooking know how important your sense of smell is to your ability to create artisan recipes. You need to be able to smell the ingredients in order to know how they will taste. In fact, the way our human brain and receptors are set up, our sense of smell determines whether or not we can taste the food we eat. That’s why when you have a cold and your nose is stuffy, your food seems tasteless and bland. We need our noses to eat!
Different people also have genetic marker differences that determine how various scents smell (or taste) to them. For example, some people love cilantro and would say, it tastes absolutely amazing. Other people are repelled by cilantro and say, it tastes like grass.
[You can have people taste cilantro to experiment with this.]
I have here some bowls with some ingredients. Can I have a few volunteers to come up here and tell me what they are?
[Allow people to smell the ingredients and try to guess what they are. You could also have them taste them with clothespins on their noses to see if they know what they are first.]
How did that experiment work?
Scientists now tell us that humans can detect at least over 10,000 unique odors. In fact, our olfactory sense is the only sense that has a straight line to the part of our brain that deals with memory and emotion. Humans aren’t as good as dogs at this—we have 5 million smell receptors, but dogs have 300 million. No wonder people say your dog sees the world through its nose.
Smells, more than any other sense, can evoke in us huge emotional responses. We can smell fear. We can smell danger. The smell of tobacco can remind us of a male relative or a comfortable study. The smell of roses or lavender might remind us of our mother’s perfume and therefore the comfort and love of our mother.
Our sense of smell defines how we relate to the world, to the food we eat, to the things we favor, even to people we meet. We now know for example that humans have a kind of “kinship” smell detector. Scientists have proven that mothers can “smell” the scent of their biological children.
We also know that smell has a lot to do with the mates we choose. We are pre-determined to be attracted to people who are genetically different than we are, so as to have genetic advantage in procreating.^
Olfactory scents also can influence us in terms of relieving stress or anxiety. We know that scents such as myrrh, frankincense and sage reduce anxiety and exude peace. Our minds somehow are calmed by these smells. They have a direct influence on our brain. This is the basis for “aromatherapy.”
Our olfactory perceptions influence our judgments based highly on our emotions. And our emotions are highly attached to our ability to trust, attach and have faith in someone or something. Perhaps this is one unconscious reason that the Jewish tradition (among others) has from ancient times used fragrance in sacred rituals. Certain scents evoke certain emotions and memories, associated with traditions, feelings and sacred experiences.
To be anointed with fragrant oils was a form of prayer and blessing, a bestowal of sacredness and an indication that someone was of a certain kind of spirit, a deeply faithful one or a prophetic one, for example.
Scents such as pine, balsam and cedar would evoke in the Jewish people memories of richly fertile and abundant areas, of mountains where experiences of God could be prevalent, of their nomadic heritage or of the promise of God. The scents of roses would represent love or the garden, places of peacefulness and prayer.
In the Jewish tradition, spices, herbs and anointing oils would be used for occasions, such as anointings of kings, weddings, funerary rituals, Temple rituals or rituals of prayer and sabbath. Some were cleansing rituals, others celebratory or transcendent rituals.
The combination of ritual (linked to memory) and scent (the olfactory emotional response linked to memory) made perfect sense. Smells evoke our faith. They draw on both our memory and our emotions to create an experiential manifestation of prayer, God, the Holy Spirit or the sacred amidst life. Scents make sense of our faith. They make the sacred real for us in the midst of secular life.
In celebrating the Jewish Sabbath, Shabbat ends with a ritual called “havdala.” Havdala was instigated in the 4th century BCE as an ending ritual for Shabbat. The word havdala means “separation.” It marks the end of Shabbat and the beginning of the week. However, the ritual is paradoxical. The act of separation connects Shabbat with the rest of the week. “The boundaries between sacred and secular are blurred, and Shabbat imparts its transcendent vision into the rest of the week.”***
The central metaphors for havdala are light, scent and taste. It is a multisensory, rejuvenating experience that includes fire, spices and wine. During the ritual, one rejuvenates one’s faith to last through the coming week. In the ceremony, a special double-twisted candle (with intertwining wicks) is lit and a cup of wine is blessed, while smelling sweet spices. Everyone passes the spices around, and each person takes a deep whiff of the scent.
In breathing in the spicy oils, each person’s spirit is renewed by the Holy Spirit and reminded of God’s presence and covenant for the upcoming week.
Scents in the Jewish tradition, particularly the use of incense, also represents blessing and prayer. Prayers are seen as sweet petitions that rise up to God like the flame of a candle. The sweeter the prayers, the sweeter the spirit of those who pray.
Recently, archaeologists found an ancient vial of balsam incense oil in the remains of the Qumran community. When scientists burned some of the oil, they discovered that the scent was so powerful that it remained in the clothing and hair and rooms where they had burned it for a week afterward. Not only that but no insect would come near it! It literally “purified” the entire area.
Today, many traditions, including the Christian traditions, maintain candles, scents and incense and incorporate them into experiential acts of worship and prayer. They are powerful reminders that God’s presence intrudes upon every part of our lives and leaves a “scent” upon us that carries through our week.
In the scriptures for today, we see the anointing of Kings in the Jewish tradition, as well as the anointing of Jesus. In all of these scriptures, these anointings represent deep blessings and prayers and respect for those called by God into special roles, whether prophet, king, priest or sacrifice. Jesus represents all of these, wrapped up into one. For Jesus, the scent of his anointing carried him from the time of his anointing through to the time of his crucifixion, leaving the scent of blessing and prayer, hope and presence upon him to remember in his time of greatest emotional pain and grief.^^
We too need reminders of God’s presence in our lives that last beyond the time we spend in weekly worship. We too need to know that Jesus’ presence is with us, that it goes beyond skin-deep but sinks deep into our souls and exudes hope and love and grace from our own spirits, wherever we go and in whatever we do.
In Lebanon today, for the fourth year now, a growing prayer gathering will take place. It’s an “incense and prayer gathering” called “Cry Out,” a 74 hour event “for believers to come together in Lebanon and around the world to pray to and worship Jesus.”** Thousands will gather in the midst of the middle east to proclaim their faith in Jesus and to exude the scent of prayer and blessing to all those around them for miles. The power of this prayer gathering and its ritualistic scent goes beyond all sense and into the beautiful sacred mystery of Christ’s presence among us.
Never underestimate the power of prayer. Or the power of ritual. Or the power of scent.
Today, I invite you too to take part in a ritual of anointing. As you come forward to the altar to receive your anointing with either Frankincense and Myrrh or Rose of Sharon, I encourage you to feel the presence of Jesus around you and to take the reminder of this sacred experience with you into the upcoming week.
Shabbat shalom!
*The photo for this sermon is taken from an article in Mission Network News, entitled “’Incense and Fire’ Prayer Gathering for Breakthrough in Lebanon,” by Lindsay Steele, October 22, 2018.
^See brainfacts.org
** https://www.mnnonline.org/news/incense-and-fire-prayer-gathering-for-breakthrough-in-lebanon/
*** https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/256963/jewish/What-Is-Havdalah.htm
^^For more on this phenomenon, see Len Sweet, Soulcafe, “The Story of an Unnamed Woman.”
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
John’s Witness to Jesus’ Anointing at Bethany by Mary Six Days Before the Passover (12:1-11)
Spices Used in Anointing Oils and Incense / God’s Holy Fragrance (Exodus 30)
Minor Text
The Story of Noah, the Fragrance of His Faith and God’s Promise to Restore the Earth (Genesis 8)
The Anointing of Aaron by Moses (Leviticus 8)
The Song of Songs by Solomon
Psalm 2: The Lord’s Anointed One
Psalm 23: We Are All Anointed in the Joy and Salvation of the Lord
Psalm 45: The King’s Wedding
Psalm 105: The Promise of the Lord
Psalm 133: The Lord’s Blessing is as of Aaron
The Bridegroom Will Come (Isaiah 61)
King David is Anointed (1 Samuel 16)
King Saul is Anointed King (1 Samuel 10)
King Solomon Anointed King (1 Kings 1:38-50)
The Son of God Anointed (Hebrews 1)
Luke’s Witness to a Sinful Woman Who Anointed Jesus at the Home of a Pharisee (7:36-50)
Matthew’s Witness to Jesus’ Anointing at Bethany Just Before His Betrayal (26:6-16)
Mark’s Witness to Jesus’ Anointing at Bethany Just Before His Betrayal (14:3-11)
The Fragrance of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:12-17)