Fragrant Aroma

….and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:2

She smelled really bad. Amoy Paksiw*! After a day’s work as a full-time housewife, I would come home from school and can sniff the smell of my mother from some feet away. She would clean the whole house when her eight children left for school and her loving husband left home to attend the small family business. By her hands, she would do the laundry of her big family. She would cook lunch and prepare the table as she rushes back and forth to her laundry or house cleaning. Throughout the day, she also finds time to her sidelines like selling retailed vinegar and retailed charcoal. Before she takes a bath, she checks on her children’s school needs and homework. Don’t get me wrong! I love my mother’s smell. It was like a fragrant aroma! It was a sign of her love and care for her family. She was not vocally expressive about her love but her smell exposes that. Her daily sacrifice floats in the air with that “aromatic smell”. We live a pleasant life because of her unpleasant sacrifice.

He looked really bad. It was not a nice picture to behold. It was not a scenic view to stare upon. Jesus nailed on the cross. God who came to save suffered. God who came to deliver died. God who came to open eyes closes eyes. God who came who has power overall things seems powerless. And this is His expression of His love. He handed himself as an offering for us. He made himself looked bad yet it resulted as a fragrant aroma. His sacrifice floats in the air with that fragrant aroma. We live a pleasant life because of His unpleasant sacrifice.

Look at the cross. When you look at the Christ on the cross, breathe the aroma. When you bow down before that tree where Jesus is, smell the scent. And remember, you smell that pleasant aroma for Jesus made an unpleasant sacrifice.

(* Smells like fish cooked in vinegar!)