The Aroma of Christ
Recently, while doing our family’s weekend grocery shopping, I was reminded of something truly remarkable. Moving through the aisles at my typical hyper-focused and hurried pace, I whizzed past other shoppers and through the many familiar smells of the bustling grocery aisles: produce, seafood, fresh food samples produce and the like. When I do the weekend grocery shopping, I am a man on a mission and nothing typically compromises my efficiency — or so I thought.
My mission was abruptly halted by an odor. More specifically, a smell that activated a deep, emotional memory. Rounding the corner from one aisle to another, I passed by a woman who must have been wearing the exact perfume my late grandmother wore — a fragrance I haven’t smelled in more than 15 years since she went to be with our Lord. In an instant, I was 10 years old again, eating Sunday lunch after church with my Grandma, Carolyn.
Neuroscience teaches us that these experiences are not flukes. Scent, emotion and memory are strongly intertwined and reflect the incredible wiring of our brains and nervous systems. This knowledge enhances the metaphor of the “aroma of Christ” that St. Paul uses in his second letter to the Corinthians.
Eugene Peterson’s translation of this passage in “The Message” is quite poignant:
In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse. 2:14-16
As is the case with so many of the writings attributed to St. Paul, this passage is teeming with gems to unpack. But consider the power of smell and memory. As Christians, who are joint heirs in the victory over sin and death, our words, deeds and interactions with everyone leave behind a fragrant aroma and have the opportunity to bring knowledge of Christ to others. The daily choices we make to model our values as redeemed people and share the abundant gifts God has provided — in ways big and small — leave an impression on people. If a whiff of perfume in a grocery store has the power to take me back to my childhood, how much more does the aroma of Christ have to connect people with God in deeply emotional and lasting ways? What a great gift and weighty opportunity we have as bearers of this sweet scent.
Let us pray that God would pour out His grace upon us so that everywhere we go and with everyone we interact, we fill that space and those interactions with the aroma of Christ and His never-changing message of hope and redemption.
