The Aroma of Christ

Every relationship has phases – there’s the getting to know you phase, the honeymoon phase when even the things you do that are really annoying seem to be unique and interesting, and then every relationship has that time of tension when conflict forces the people in the relationship to either part ways or struggle through. Every deep relationship has had a few, at least, times of tension and conflict and the working through has challenged but ultimately strengthened the relationship.

When I am meeting with couples before I officiate their wedding, I always tell them that a day will come when you wake up and look over at your sleeping spouse and think, “You. I chose you.” It happens in every relationship. “What was I thinking?” Once the honeymoon is over, the choice has to be made over and over again in a relationship to work through.

Much like a marriage after the honeymoon, Paul and the church at Corinth have been through a struggle. The second letter to the church at Corinth is a post-honeymoon letter. Paul founded the church at Corinth. He lived there a couple of years, teaching and preaching the Gospel. After he left he stayed in touch with the church there through letters, by sending folks to visit and by returning at least once. 1 Corinthians is probably not the first letter Paul wrote after he left. In it, he answers some of the questions that he has heard they have that are fueling disagreements among members. Sometime after he wrote the letter we know as I Corinthians, he visited. It was a painful visit. Questions were raised about Paul and his true intentions, his motives for asking for offerings, …it got ugly and he left early. He wrote a letter after he left that we do not have, and it is known as “the letter of tears.” Then, he sent Titus to patch things up. And now, he is writing again. There is a new level of relationship in this letter. The relationship has deepened for the struggle that they have shared. 2 Corinthians is a letter about deepening discipleship – to the point that believing shapes your identity. Paul shared the Gospel with them, and they have learned about Jesus and believe in him. However, discipleship is not only knowledge and belief. In I Corinthians, Paul has given them boundaries and guidelines for living. However, discipleship is not only behaviors. Now Paul writes to them about identity.

Throughout the summer, we are going to study the metaphors Paul uses to describe the identity of a disciple.

In the passage we read this morning, Paul tells them that after Titus visited in Corinth he was supposed to meet Paul in Troas. Except when Paul got there, Titus wasn’t there. And even though the door was open there for him to evangelize and share the Gospel, Paul was too upset. So he left and went on to Macedonia.

But God didn’t let the opportunity go wasted. Paul says, “Thanks be to God, who spreads the fragrance that comes from knowing Christ in every place.”

It is interesting to me that Paul uses the sense of smell to describe how we transmit the Gospel for three reasons. Our olfactory, our
sense of smell, is the sense that connects our memory and our emotions most deeply. That’s why potpourri’s of “Christmas” sell so well. I can tell you if a plastic bag that my mother brings to my house has been in my grandmother’s house, because I recognize that scent. And that scent connects me to wonderful childhood memories like no other scent does.

Fragrance also has a way of filling the entire space around it. Easter Sunday morning, when I first opened the doors of the Sanctuary, this whole room was filled with the sweet scent of lilies.

And fragrance is easily transmitted from one person to another. I don’t know about you, but I can tell on Sunday afternoon who I have hugged on Sunday morning by the lingering scents that waft as I go about my day. It is one of my distinct Sunday afternoon pleasures to remember the connection of worship and community as I notice the fragrances.

So, Paul says that we are like the fragrance of Christ – fragrance that is distinct and noticeable, that creates memories connected to emotions that are deep and lasting, fragrance that fills the entire space around it, and fragrance that is easily transmitted from one person to another.

The image Paul uses is the Roman victory parade. When a conqueror returned victorious, he rode in his chariot through town and the people he had captured followed behind carrying burning incense. The smell of victory! Christ leads the triumphant procession, Paul says, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him.

Paul could have stopped and shared the Gospel in Troas, but he was too upset that Titus didn’t meet him. Paul and the Corinthians were in the middle of their fight and it had him distracted. But, because of the fragrance of Christ, the fragrance of victory over sin and death, coming off of Paul in just the way he went about his daily living and interactions, the people of Troas still smelled the fragrance that comes from knowing Christ. It was his very essence, the way he WAS, like the way my grandmother’s house smells to me, that they noticed. It filled the space around him and when you had been in his presence, it rubbed off on you.

Then Paul writes, “For we are the aroma of Christ to God.” He shifts metaphors. Fragrance and aroma are not the same thing. Aroma is the scent of sacrifice. This is Temple language. We are the scent of the sacrifice of Christ to God. This is what makes the fragrance distinctive – memorable – this is the emotional connection that our lives are transmitting and that fills the space around us. It isn’t a scent of power. It isn’t a scent of being nice. It is the aroma of sacrifice.

In her book, Almost Christian, Kenda Creasy Dean warns that “Sociologists paint American Christians as restless people who come to church for the same reasons people once went to diners: for someone to serve us who knows our name, for a filling stew that reminds us of home and makes us feel loved, even while it does a number on our spiritual cholesterol.”

As I have read and studied the decline in the mainline Protestant church in America, over and over again, well-meaning congregations of good people have focused on sweetening their fragrance, and have often used artificial sweeteners, instead of tending their aroma. The aromas of sacrifices at the Temple were not sweet. The sacrifices were animals burned on the altar. We are the aroma of Christ, who gave the ultimate sacrifice of his life, to God.

When we come to this table, we receive the gift of that sacrifice, and we pray for the Holy Spirit to come like fire to the sacrifice of our lives. We pray to be holy and living sacrifices united with Christ’s offering for us. We pray to be the aroma of Christ to God. We pray to be on fire! Discipleship is an all or nothing; you either are on fire or you are not. C. S. Lewis puts it this way, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

Paul is teaching the church at Corinth, and us, that discipleship is being on fire – the very aroma of the sacrifice of Christ to God. Discipleship is more than living together in community. It is more than being a group of good citizens. It is more than being kind, peaceful, and sweet. Discipleship unites us with Christ’s sacrifice, so that our lives reflect his self-giving love.

It isn’t about one good deed, or about an act of service, or a trip to do mission…discipleship is about choosing; choosing every day to deepen your relationship with God by being more like Jesus.

When we come to this table, we remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Re-membering is putting back together something that has come apart. Christ came God-among-us in the world, and now we re-member as we are fed and filled to be God-among-us in the world. Every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, “God enters the world again in human form, …through us (Dean).”

“Who is sufficient for these things?” asks Paul. It is not us. It is God. Thanks be to God. Amen.