The Fragrance of Christ
Does anyone here like parades? Last year we had a lot of folks walk in the Brewster in Bloom parade, but I don’t know whether we’re going to be represented this year because it’s on Mother’s Day, May 8. At a parade there tends to be a few groups of people – participants, spectators, and judges.
My fondest memories of parades are of the Independence Day parade in Ocean Park, Maine where I spent my summers growing up. Some of you have been to Camp Oceanwood which is located in Ocean Park. Every Fourth of July they have a typical small town Independence Day parade that includes a regular band, a kazoo band, kids with their wagons and bikes, people on horseback, floats and fire trucks – you can picture the scene. At the end all the children got a free ice cream treat and the band would play patriotic songs including many by John Philip Sousa always including It’s a Grand Old Flag, which is one of my favorites.
March 20, 2016
2 Corinthians 2.14–17 The Fragrance of Christ
Pastor Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
Audio only[powerpress]
Many of us could probably share our experiences of parades that remain vivid in our memories though the years are long past. Depending on our age we may recall parades to commemorate the end of World War Two, the return of the astronauts after the moon landing, or even a championship parade for a sports team which thankfully we’ve had many of in Boston over the last fifteen years! The traditional Palm Sunday Gospel reading that began our worship service today from Luke 19:28-40, describes a scene that looks and sounds a little like a parade. There is a multitude of people, Jesus on a colt, folks are praising God and laying cloaks in the path before him. This isn’t the only scripture in the New Testament that looks and sounds like a parade. The Apostle Paul also uses the image of a parade in today’s scripture from 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence.”
The picture that Paul is calling to mind for his listeners is that of a triumphant Roman general parading through the packed streets with captured prisoners, treasures, animals from the conquered territory, musicians, and Roman priests swinging censers filled with fragrant incense. Paul envisions Christ marching in triumph at the head of a victory parade. God in Christ defeated the powers of hopelessness, sin, and death. Christ has triumphed not only over the world, but also over the problems that had been disrupting the Corinthian church and causing Paul great concern. As followers of Jesus, Paul says we’re part of Christ’s triumphal procession. We share in his victory and we have a part to play in the parade. Once we become a Christian and we’re baptized we go from being on the sidelines watching the parade go by to being a participant in the parade. Our role in Christ’s triumphal procession is to spread in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. What does that mean?
Many things have a fragrance or an aroma. As winter turns to spring if you spend time outside you can smell the difference as the season is changing. Many flowers have a lovely fragrance. Driving around this week I also smelled the smoke of downed branches and brush being burned in people’s yards; some folks enjoy the smell of a nice fire whether in their yard, fire pit, or fire place. Some men and women wear perfume or cologne in order to smell more pleasant, attractive, or enticing. If you’ve ever been packed in a subway, train or anywhere in a crowd with folks who aren’t wearing deodorant you know that there are aromas that aren’t appealing or pleasant. Some of my favorite aromas are related to baking – the smell of baking cookies or homemade bread – those are great fragrances. I’ve often said that if a company wanted to make perfumes that men would find appealing all they’d have to do is make a couple that smell like bacon, chocolate chip cookies, or vanilla and most men would find those irresistible. Paul says as followers of Christ we bear the fragrance that comes from knowing him. In other words, people should be able to “smell” our faith before we tell them of our faith. What is the smell of our faith – the aroma of love, the perfume of hope, the fragrance of faith, and the cologne of compassion that come from knowing Jesus in a personal and life changing way.
When we hear bad news – like earlier this week when Massachusetts State Trooper Thomas Clardy was killed during a traffic stop on the MA Pike leaving a wife and six kids behind –one of the things we might say is, “That stinks!” The truth is in many ways the world does stink. God sent Jesus because the world was filled with the stench of selfishness, pride, greed, violence, arrogance, ignorance, and sin. But, Paul says, in the midst of that stinking world Jesus is leading a victory parade and following behind him are all those from every land, nation, people, and language who have placed their faith and trust in him. Those of us who are in Jesus’ parade, rather than just walking on the road and sticking close to our triumphant leader, we’re told to spread out down the side streets and into our schools and workplaces, down dead ends and into developments, in businesses and gyms, the beach, any place where there are people living with the odor of sin, despair, hopelessness and death. Like butter flowing into every nook and cranny of a warm muffin, disciples of Jesus are to share with our family and friends the appealing aroma that comes from knowing Jesus.
We can be the aroma of Christ in the days and weeks to come. We can speak encouraging and affirming words to someone who needs a boost. We can pray for someone who is sick to be comforted and healed. We can pray for someone who is lost and trying to find the purpose of life to come to know Christ. We can listen to someone who’s grieving or feeling lonely, or bring a meal to someone who could use a break. We can surprise a stranger with an act of kindness. We could even invite someone to attend worship with us next Sunday. There are so many ways of spreading the aroma of Christ and we each can do it in ways consistent with our personality, temperament, and abilities. When we do something kind and people say, “You’re so sweet,” you can respond by saying, “Oh that’s not me, that’s a fragrance I always wear called Jesus is Lord #1. Would you like it for yourself?” When it comes to a fragrance or perfume it doesn’t do much good, it doesn’t accomplish its purpose, if its kept tightly closed in a bottle. The aroma needs to be released for its purpose to be fulfilled. Flowers don’t have much of an aroma before they grow and bloom. In the same way, we fulfill our purpose as disciples of Jesus when we open our lives to others so the fragrance of Christ may spread through our circles of relationship and throughout our community.
Paul writes that, “We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” Some people like those who are being baptized this morning, will gratefully accept the message of God’s love in Jesus; to them it is a fragrance of joy which leads to transformed, eternal life. The same fragrance of Christ, the same message of how Jesus reconciled us to God, will be rejected by others. We have the responsibility to share a message that has the potential to open the way of life or hardens people in their life apart from God. Regardless of how people respond to us, we are to keep sharing and spreading the message of Jesus as long as we’re able. There’s no retirement from Jesus’ parade. Filled with the joy and hope of His triumph, we keep spreading the fragrance of Christ until the day God calls us home. Our ministry is to joyfully spread the fragrance of Christ wherever we go. The fragrance of Christ is as inseparable from a person living as a disciple as is the scent of a rose from its petals. People will remember the smell of our faith.
In a world that stinks of violence, hatred, prejudice, ignorance, and greed what difference could it make to have a parade of millions upon millions of bright, beautiful, fragrant followers of Jesus Christ pouring out of churches all over the world to add beauty, love, and hope to their communities.
Holy Week which begins today as we remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem all those years ago is about how Jesus literally poured out his life, like a fragrance, for the sake of others, even to the point of shedding his blood and dying on the cross. In Luke 22:20 at the Last Supper it says, “And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Towards the end of Paul’s life he states in 2 Timothy 4:6, “As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come.” Fragrances and perfumes are poured out to fulfill their purpose and so are lives like Jesus and Paul and each of us.
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday stirs emotions that make it difficult to remain comfortably slouched in a lawn chair or pew like a spectator at a parade Jesus riding on a colt offers himself as a different kind of king. He comes not with weapons or armies. He doesn’t come with a political agenda to oust the Romans. The expectations of the disciples around him are misguided if they think he is coming to claim a royal throne. Yet their praises, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace,” are so similar to those of the angels who announced Jesus’ birth saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace…” We are challenged by the Palm Sunday parade to make a decision about where we are going to be – spectators watching it go by, judges who criticize and critique those who are participating, or participants who take part and share in what Jesus is doing spreading “in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him,” and being in our time “the aroma of Christ.”
Blessing: “Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1–2
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
What is one of your favorite aromas or fragrances (for example, baking bread or cookies, a particular flower, perfume)?
Can recall ever participating in or seeing in person or on TV a memorable parade? Where was it? What was the parade about (Tournament of Roses, St. Patrick’s Day, Independence day, Championship)?
In 2 Corinthian 2:14-17, what kind of parade is Paul describing? What does it look like? Smell like? Who is in it? Where do you think it’s going?
How would you describe “the aroma” that comes from knowing Jesus Christ?
How can the aroma of Christ be to one person “a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”
What does 2 Corinthian 2:14-17 invite or challenge us to do in our lives?