The Aroma of Myrrh and the Beloved of John
“Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.” ~ John 11:39 (KJV)
“he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” ~ John 11:43 (KJV)
“And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices” ~ John 19 :39-40 (KJV)
Did Lazarus come out with awful stench
In wrappings from the grave? Or did the Christ
Include in his command a thought to quench
That stink? Perhaps the word of God sufficed
Without explicit clause to take away
The rot. Of course that must be it. But then
Again the Lord was wise enough to say
His friend’s name first—or otherwise all men
In death might well have been revived. Perhaps
The mind of this Jehovah has, built in,
A perfect system to replace harsh gaps
And cleanse away results and smells of sin.
..When he himself arose from battered doom,
….Life’s fragrance came outflooding from his tomb.