Friday 20 March

By Russell Bar

Are you wearing perfume or after shave?

How much does it cost?

Would the money not be better spent feeding hungry people?

Imagine you have been up early and spent some time in the garden.

A shout from the back door tells you breakfast is ready.

You go back into your house, pleased with what you have done when suddenly you smell the freshly baked bread.

Somone else has been busy too.

You stop..........and smile.......for there is nothing more appetising than the smell of freshly baked bread.

Yet your smile is not just for the bread but for the thought, care and kindness that helped bake it.

Now imagine the dinner party held in the home of Martha and Mary.

The party was held in Jesus' honour not long after he raised their brother Lazarus back to life.

A group of men are reclining around the table and the air is filled with the smell of meat roasting and vegetables cooking.

A woman has just appeared and to everyone's surprise she has poured perfume over Jesus' feet and is now drying his feet with her hair.

The perfume's smell fills the room.

One or two start to grumble about the cost and the waste and whether it could have been sold.

Yet look at Jesus, smiling

Is he smiling for the perfume and what the woman has just done with it or is he smiling at the thought, care and kindness the perfume represents ?

Jesus is smiling because he sees beyond the price to love's cost.

And soon he will pay love's cost at Calvary for her – and for you.

Christian Aid

In 36 countries, women now hold more than 30% of seats in national parliament in at least one chamber.

Give 50p for each female head of state you can name.