A Pleasing Aroma

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Today, Pastor Derek preached from Luke 7 and spoke about Jesus' interaction with the sinful woman at the home of Simon the Pharisee. Although the story is one I've read many times, today, the thought that kept visiting me was the idea that forgiveness leaves behind a pleasing aroma. Sin is ugly and smelly, but when Jesus washed away the sins of this woman, she was so filled with gratitude that she came and washed Jesus' dirty feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, rained kisses upon them, and anointed His now-clean feet with an expensive and fragrant oil from her alabaster jar.

Jesus no longer saw her sin, but her faith, and he told her to go in peace with the pleasing aroma hanging in the air like a punctuation mark demonstrating just how much she had been forgiven and just how thankful she was for that forgiveness. From that point on, God no longer saw (or smelled) this woman's sin, but rather the righteousness imparted to her through the blood of Christ. In the Old Testament, sacrifice presented to God was often called a pleasing aroma (check out Leviticus), and this connection of Old and New hit me hard today. Instead of my sin, the lingering aroma of Christ's sacrifice hangs in the air. I am so grateful for Jesus and His sacrifice for my sins, and for the fact that I, too, can be a fragrant aroma to Him instead of stench filling his nostrils!

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