There are two occasions when our family gets together during the holidays: Thanksgiving and New Years. Not only is there feasting, and I mean all day feasting–hors d’oerves, — all those things which are off limits full of calories, fat, and deliciousness the rest of the year, and a huge dinner late in the afternoon. When I say snacks, I mean several dips and chips choices, cheeses and crackers (brie, cheddars, cheese balls, pistachio spread, you name it), hot spiced cider, punchbowl punch, little smokies wrapped in crescent rolls, meatballs in chili-grape jelly sauce, (don’t knock it ’til ya try it!) and just to be “good” cut up peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. (you can guess this is the only thing left on the tray) and cookies–lots of cookies.
What is the occasion? Parades. The Macy’s parade with bands, singers, dancers, the Rockettes, etc. for Thanksgiving, ushering in Christmas season, and on New Year’s Day, the Rose Bowl parade which defies imagination as floats, covered every inch (well, mostly) with flowers and seeds and other organic stuff.
There are excited oohs and aahs, and our dance-crazy grandchildren practice their dance steps or wish they could join the dancers on screen. Other observers remind them to move so the sedentary adults can see the screen, usually to no avail. It’s a delightful scene.
We always, adults, remember marching in parades as kids playing instruments, making sure the ranks and files were straight, remembering times we delighted crowds too. We critically watch as the Marine band is perfect, of course, showing hours upon hours of standardizing their posture and size of steps. Lines are perfectly straight, music is memorized–wow! Then we notice how they practice turning the sharp corner in Pasadena, somehow ending up in the same straight rows as seen from the hovering blimp. It’s not magic. It’s practice. Lots and lots of practice.
Now, to the point of all this.
2 Corinthians 2:14 says: “But thanks be to God, Who made us His captives and leads us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now wherever we go He uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Good News like a sweet perfume.” Can you see the image? The ESV version puts it this way: “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being save and among those who are perishing. to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance of life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not like so many peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.” I love how my new study Bible sets the scene for this verse. It is unlike any parade we’ve seen. Here’s what the notes say: “This refers to a lavish victory parade celebrated in Rome after a great battle. God is depicted as the sovereign victor, with Christ as the general, leading the victory procession, and Paul, “captured” by Christ but now joyfully following him images of such parades are still visible in some ancient works of art such as the reliefs on the late-first -century Arch of Titus in Rome. “
The fragrance image also refers to the practice of spreading incense along the streets during a victory parade. I never would have known about that. I wonder if people along the route in Pasadena catch the smell of flowers as floats pass by. (just an aside note). Today, let us believers spread the sweet fragrance of God’s winsome message to those around us in hopes others will ask us the source of our joy.
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