While porching the other day, just taking in all of the early morning sounds of darkness, a sweet smell wafted across my nose. I slowly inhaled to take in all the sweetness. Then it was gone. Has that ever happened to you? Out of the blue a beautiful aroma will gently appear on the breeze. It lingers for a few seconds and the breeze either carries it to another place, or we stop noticing. You know what I mean, don’t you? Out for a walk and the breeze carries to you a reminder.
Smells are in the nostril (that’s a funny word) of the smeller. What is fragrant to me may be stench to you. To me, babies smell good. Flowers smell good. Rain smells good. Cookies baking smell good. Laundry on the line smells good. Horses smell good. A roast in the oven smells good. Aged leather smells good. But there are other smells that just plain…stink. When they arrive on the breeze we get wide eyed and look to see where they came from.
Have you ever thought about the smells of the Bible? Living in a hot, arid land, wearing a robe, taking care of livestock — think about it! I know what I smell like when I clean the barn.
The story of Lazarus made me think about Bible smells. I know, weird. Specifically, John 11:39:
Then they came to the grave.
It was a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance.
“Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man’s sister, said,
“Lord, by now the smell will be terrible
because he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus responded,
“Didn’t I tell you that you will see God’s glory if you believe?”
The King James Version says: “Lord, by this time he stinketh.” Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking that that Martha was one practical woman. That was my first thought too! Yikes! But you see, Martha need not fear the stench, she need only believe.
You know that upon his death, Jesus was laid in a tomb, just like Lazarus. Luke 16 tells us that the evening after Jesus’s death that Mary Magdalene, Salome and the other Mary went out and purchased burial spices to put on Jesus body. These ladies too probably thought about the smell of death. But hadn’t He also told them that if they only believe they would see His glory? In fact, what did the angel at the tomb say to them: “Why are you looking in a tomb for someone who is alive?” The angel was saying, the stench of death is not here, only the sweet aroma of everlasting life.
You see, Jesus had told them repeatedly about His resurrection, but it wasn’t until the angel spoke that that they remembered. The absence of the smell of death reminded them of the sweet smell of Jesus’s words. They need only believe. We need only believe.
Just as Martha ran to tell others the good news that Lazarus was alive, and just as Mary Magdalene, Salome and the other Mary ran to tell others the good news of Christ’s resurrection, we are to do the same. We are to spread the sweet aroma of everlasting life.
Now, wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Good News like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a fragrance presented by Christ to God.
But his fragrance is perceived differently by those being saved and by those perishing. To those who are perishing we are a fearful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved we are a life-giving perfume. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16
Are we spreading sweet perfume everywhere we go? Are we talking about Jesus, pointing to Jesus, looking for Jesus, sharing Jesus, living Jesus, proclaiming the aroma of salvation to all? Do our lives smell like we know Christ, defer to Christ, fall humbly at the feet of Christ, or should we be afraid to roll away the stone?