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A Pleasing Aroma
One of my core childhood memories is a particular fragrance — the scent of citrus groves that wafted across the Sebou River towards our home at the Naval Air Station in Kenitra, Morocco. About 10 years ago, I opened a package of French soap and its citrus scent immediately activated that memory. Every time I replenish the soap and open a new package, the distinctive fragrance reminds me of life in Morocco.
References to aromas, odors and fragrances are sprinkled liberally throughout Scripture. In the Old Testament, sacrificial offerings brought before the Lord are described as having a “pleasing odor” to Him. Although in Texas, we might argue that God favors the scent of barbecue, the obedience of God’s people — which aligned them once again in fellowship with Him — was the “pleasing” factor.
We remember the tender story of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus’ feet with an extravagant amount of nard (a costly, highly aromatic perfume), then wiping His feet with her hair. The fragrance filled the whole house and lingered on Jesus for days — a testimony to Mary’s deep devotion and love.
We are not called to offer burnt sacrifices and we don’t have the opportunity to personally anoint the feet of Jesus. So, does the metaphor of pleasing aromas no longer apply? In the same passage in which the Apostle Paul describes Jesus as a “fragrant offering and sacrifice to God,” he answers that question by exhorting each of us to “be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us.” (Ephesians 2:1-2)
We are called to live lives that are so infused with the love of God that our very being exudes the fragrance of Christ, a fragrance that is created in love, honed by sacrifice and humility and marked by holiness. Just as the citrus soap brings me back to a particular time and place in my early life, so should our presence in the lives of others bring joy, peace and love.
“Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.”1
1 Offertory sentence before the Great Thanksgiving in the Holy Eucharist II liturgy (Book of Common Prayer, p. 343)
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