What Is Your SMELL?
Isaiah 49:3, 5–6; 1 Corinthians 1:1–3; John 1:29–34
Maybe not so much for human beings, but smell plays a vital role in the animal kingdom. It marks boundaries and territories and helps establish group identity. Little did I know that “smell” is also important for human beings—and today, I realize that it is vital for Christianity.
As a young minor seminarian, I once went for morning Mass with another seminarian at a sisters’ convent chapel. As soon as we stepped into the convent, it took barely a few seconds before the seminarian with me asked the sisters whether his mother was in that convent. The Sister Superior replied, “What made you ask?” He answered, “I can perceive my mother’s perfume.” True enough, his mother had visited the convent the previous day.
You and I—what is our smell? How do people know that we are Christians?
If we look for a connecting thread that runs through today’s readings and gives Christianity its “smell,” it is mission and action. Not necessarily mission in the sense of traveling to foreign lands, but mission as a responsibility—a duty to make Christ known wherever we find ourselves. The way to make Christ known is through what we do. Mission, therefore, is inseparable from action.
From the commission in the first reading—“I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6)—to Paul’s reminder—“you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:2)—to John’s testimony—“the One who sent me to baptize with water told me…” (John 1:33)—all the readings speak of a God who calls and sends on mission, and of work that must be done.
Our Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, just one week after the Baptism of the Lord, calls us to bear the fruits of baptism: Christian mission and Christian action.
Let us begin with the Gospel. John’s confession is ironic but deeply instructive. It is ironic because his mission involves faith rather than prior certainty: John admits that he did not know Jesus, yet he still points him out as the Lamb of God. His testimony is based not on human recognition but on divine instruction. “The One who sent me to baptize with water told me…” There was a prior relationship between John and God. God sent John on a mission and gave him clear directives. As John faithfully carried out his duty, the descent of the Holy Spirit revealed to him who Jesus truly was.
By implication, relationship with God leads to knowledge of God’s mission; and faithful action in that mission becomes testimony. Christian action reveals God’s presence.
Like John, every baptized Christian has the responsibility to make Jesus known through his or her daily work and conduct. People should recognize who we are simply by encountering us. John identified Jesus through what he saw. He understood his mission as revealing Christ to the world: “The reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel” (John 1:31).
When John proclaims Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), he also reveals Jesus’ mission. The present tense—“who takes away”—reminds us that this mission continues today. The world still needs liberation from sin. The world needs credible God-hearers and doers of God’s directives like John to reveal him, especially in the midst of the infidelities of many saddled with God’s mission.
It is through the daily struggle against sin, through growth in the knowledge of God, through the redemption won by Christ, and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit that baptism empowers Christian action. Isaiah reminds us that the light we carry is not private: “I will make you a light to the nations.” Christianism must be shared.
The smell of Christians is what reveals Christ’s presence among us. That smell is charity—the signature of love, hospitality, and universal brotherhood and sisterhood. True Christian love does not discriminate; it sees God in every human being. Christian faith creates a loving relationship that dispposes a Christian’s life towards fidelity to God.
Imagine how sweet the perfume of Christianity would be if each of us were faithful at our duty posts, as John was at his. It was while John was baptizing that he recognized Jesus. It was fidelity to mission that made the recognition of Jesus possible.
Paul reminds us that everyone is included in this calling: “You who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy…” (1 Corinthians 1:2). Holiness is the Christian smell—faithfulness to mission, lived out in love. Hospitality, charity, fidelity, and relationship with God and neighbor: behold the smell of Christianism.
To know God is to be in a relationship with Him—a relationship made visible through our actions. If a seminarian could recognize his mother’s presence by her perfume, how are you recognized as a Christian?
Assignment for the Week
Do something this week that will clearly mark you out as a Christian.