Signature Scent

Signature Scent

Mary Of Bethany

Read: John 12:1-8

I walked from room to room, breathing in the fragrance and smiling. Before today, I’d always bought the cheap potpourri—the stuff that smells good in the package but doesn’t give off much fragrance after it’s been poured into a container. My friend was right—the more expensive brand was definitely worth the money. Just before dinner, I would light the matching scented candle so we could enjoy the full effect. Little did I realize how my husband and adult son would complain about the “stink” in the house.

Mary of Bethany also got mixed reactions to a scent. Mary longed to express her love and gratitude to Jesus, especially after he raised her brother, Lazarus, from the dead. During a dinner party, she slipped in with a jar containing twelve ounces of pure nard, oil from a rare plant in India. As Mary poured the perfume over Jesus’ feet, the heavy scent filled the entire house and drew everyone’s attention. Some disciples scolded her for wasting the equivalent of a laborer’s yearly wages, but Jesus defended her act of worship and said that Mary had done a good thing.

If we are God’s children, we have a signature scent that people react to in different ways. As our lives testify to God’s love and forgiveness, he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere we go, like an exquisite perfume (see 2 Corinthians 2:14). People will react in one of two ways: Those who reject the gospel will perceive the repulsive smell of death. Those who choose to believe and receive Christ will smell “a life-giving perfume” (2 Corinthians 2:16). Our most important work is to diffuse the sweet fragrance of Christ wherever we go, even though some people will think that our faith stinks.

Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.

2 Corinthians 2:15