For years after leaving Abilene, Texas, I could still hear the wind blowing in my ears. It always blew and must have carved out pathological canyons in the corners of my mind where such experiences are stored. Sometimes, it blew from the south. When it did, it brought the unmistakable smell of the Gooch meat packing plant with it, which lurks in another part of my mind. I haven’t stepped foot in Texas since 1993 – but as I write this, I smell Gooch. Fortunately, my olfactory library houses more than stinky meat packing plants and I can also call to mind Grandma’s house, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and the educational wing of the church I grew up in.
We know the sense of smell binds powerfully to our memories, carrying us immediately to different times and places. God counted on this when He commissioned Moses to make an anointing oil for the tabernacle and His high priests. No one else was to make this for any other use. So, when you went to the tabernacle, you were smelling something unique. You didn’t get this anywhere else. It was only and always at the temple – unless….
Imagine. You’re walking back to your house from… I don’t know, your vineyard, fields, the market – you’re just walking. Your mind is thinking about something you’ve got to do or something someone said or maybe you’re just taking a mental vacation just soaking up the scenery. All of the sudden, you’re at the temple. You know how you got there, your rode on a whiff of “that smell.” You are in the very presence of the God who called your nation into community and are struck with the need to thank and praise Him this second! But where in the world did that smell come from??? You go home and your spouse says, “Did you hear the news? The high priest was here today.” “Ah!” you think. “That’s it! I must have passed him by without knowing!”
Question – how do you smell? Don’t get too self-conscious… you see, as the church, the whole church, we are God’s royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9). Now get this straight – this carries weight with it, responsibility – because God’s people are supposed to smell like Christ. We are His aroma to the saved and the lost (II Corinthians 2:15) as He leads us in this world. How are we doing? As we walk around in our daily rounds, do people smell something different? Does our attitude stink, or is it the same as that of Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5)?
I get it, I really get it. Way too well I get it – staying sweet smelling in this world is difficult. I remember how on our way back from church on Sundays dad would stop at this convenience store to pick up the Sunday paper. This was before places were smoke-free and there was an open deli with salamis, pickle-loaf, and sliced onions for made-to-order hoagies. Dad was only there for about the one minute it took to pick up the paper and pay for it, but when he returned to the car, he was what we termed “O-dif-er-ous!” That’s our world and we live in it. But we’re not condemned to smell like it. And we won’t when we spend more time with Jesus, clothed in Him!
….by the way – you cannot imagine the temptation I faced to make some very tenuous connection to rejoicing in the Lord always as a safeguard for us in Philippians 3:1 and the fact that Safeguard is a brand of deodorant soap! But I’ll leave that to you….