Daily Bible Reading: Judges 15, Acts 19, Jeremiah 38, Mark 14
The Fragrance of Jesus
Before Jesus went to Jerusalem to be crucified he went to the home of his friends in Bethany; the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. (Mark 14:1-10. See John 12:1-8 which also contains the same story to fill in some of the details.) While he was there Mary took an expensive bottle of nard, broke it, anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with the hairs of her head. The value of this was about one-year’s wages and was possibly part of Mary’s dowry. It was extremely fragrant and filled the whole room with its fragrance. Not only was the room filled with the fragrance but as Mary wiped the feet of Jesus, she and Jesus began to have the same fragrance. Mary smelled just like Jesus.
After the ascension of Jesus when the disciples were brought before the Sanhedrin because of their preaching, those questioning them “took note that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13.
2 Corinthians 2:14 says “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.”
Who do you “smell” like? Do you smell like the world of do you spread the fragrance of Jesus wherever you go? Do people take note that you have been with Jesus?
When Jacob’s sons went out and killed the Canaanite males after making a treaty with them, Jacob told them they had made him a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites and the people living in the land. (Gen. 34:30) They had acted dishonorably. Do our actions bring reproach upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and instead of being a fragrance of Him, we cause the Gospel to be a stench to people?
The Lord is looking for people who will become drenched with him, and everywhere they go they cannot help but spread the sweet-smelling fragrance of Jesus. If we are spending time with Jesus and becoming immersed in his presence and His Word, we cannot help but spreading his fragrance, just as Mary could not hide the fragrance of the nard that clung to her after she had ministered to Jesus.
The choice should not be too difficult, but it is our choice.
God is good all the time,
Naomi Brinkman
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