Do You Smell Like Jesus?

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

I used to be good at reading the Bible. And by good, I mean I read it pretty regularly, even every day most of the time. 

Then something happened, the type of thing that seems to be almost inevitable when you follow Jesus for any length of time...I started to lose interest in the Bible. Reading it in bits and pieces didn't seem like it was doing anything. The words seemed as flat as the page they were written on. I suspect I'm not entirely alone in feeling that way. 

Maybe my problem was that I had fallen into thinking that reading the Bible is just about that--reading the words, making sure my eyes pass over each one simply so I can say I read it. But reading the Bible was never supposed to be about just reading the Bible. There are college courses teaching the Bible as literature, and while such studies have merit in their own right, when we approach the Bible like we would any other book, we miss the major point of it. 

The Bible isn't just words. It's the God behind them. 

Which means, as we read the story of Mary poured this expensive perfume on Jesus' feet, we should be asking ourselves what it reveals about who Jesus is--and how that, in turn, shapes our lives as we seek to become more like him. 

The perfume wasn't like dollar store body spray that lasts an hour and then dissipates. This was lasting, the scent initially saturating the house and invading the senses of those present, then clinging to Jesus for days afterwards. Wherever he went, people knew that Jesus had been near. The scent was unavoidable. Anything he did, people would associate those words, those actions, those feelings, all with Jesus. 

My Bible didn't come with scratch and sniff pages, but I don't need them to know that the scent Jesus spread was a good one. People would have associated that scent with love, truth, compassion, understanding, and grace. They experienced the smell of Jesus firsthand as they talked with him and ate with him and laughed with him. While we can’t do those same things, if we let it, the Bible tells us what we need to know about how we can soak up those wonderful attributes of Jesus. 

When we approach the Bible as more than just words on a page, we can get whiffs of what the aroma of Jesus was like. We’re invited to discover it for ourselves, and tasked with spreading that good scent wherever we go. II Corinthians 2:16 describes it as “an aroma that brings life.” By seeing the God behind the words and joining in the work he is already doing, we can be carriers of the aroma of Jesus wherever we go. 

[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She loves Christmas and can be found spreading Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear. You can read more of her musings on her own blog or follow her on Twitter @bwitt722.]