So here’s the deal. In Arkansas we have chickens — lots of chickens. And with chickens come chicken litter. When a farmer’s Bermuda pasture needs a boost, chicken litter is generously spread on the field. And when that farmer wants a really big boost, he calls for a potent slurry from our local hog farms.
Wally had just spread hog litter on his prized Bermuda field bordering my kids’ home. You could cut the stench with a knife! And while the adults retreated quickly inside to avoid the stench, little Harper repeatedly ventured out onto the front porch.
“What’s that smell?” she asked upon returning inside. The adults in the room suspected a more “personal” problem that diaper-wearing kids face. A quick inspection by a parent found that Harper was not the issue. Her problem? Her clothes had absorbed the fragrance of hog litter!
If you’re old enough, perhaps you remember the musk colognes of the 1970s. Every guy had a bottle or two of this tantalizing liquid on his dresser. Girls gave it to boyfriends. Guys slathered it on. Jovan and Coty told us we were invincible.
Some 40 years later there’s no musk on my bathroom vanity, but what I smell like is still important. To God.
Check this out — “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” 2 Corinthians 2:14-15. Unlike the musk on my teenage dresser, God desires a fragrance in my life that is life-changing and long-lasting. To me and those around me.
The downtown mall in Battle Creek was the likely source of my teenage musk, but the fragrance God desires in my life has a different source. “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Did you catch that? When we walk in love — God’s love — we smell sweet to God. And to those around us. Hebrews 13:16 unpacks it further. “But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifice God is well pleased.”
In Mary’s day there was no musk in the city market, but she quietly shelled out serious money for an extravagant oil — spikenard. And while Jesus and his disciples ate supper, she slipped to the feet of Jesus (John 12:3). The pungent fragrance quickly filled the room and all of Christianity.
William Barclay makes three wonderful observations on Mary’s bold actions:
- Love is extravagant. Love is not love if it calculates the cost.
- Love is humble. Anointing someone’s head was common in Bible times. Mary only felt worthy to wash and dry Jesus’ feet.
- Unselfconscious love. A big word that simply means Mary was unaware and uncaring of what others felt. Breaking every social convention of her time, she knelt boldly before her Messiah and declared her love.
Just imagine our marriages, homes, schools, businesses, churches & world filled with the sweet fragrance of God’s Love. Extravagant. Humble. Bold. Like little Harper, people would be asking, “What’s that smell?”