The Sense of Smell

The good Lord was gracious in giving us five different senses.  On Easter Sunday morning, I was excited to pull my piping hot ham out of the oven.  I quickly set it on the stove top, peeled back the aluminum foil tent, and felt the steam hit my face.  The smell of my wife’s glaze grabbed my memory.  The smell of cloves sent me back sixty years to my childhood, when my mother would crisscross a picnic ham with her kitchen knife, and then poke a clove into each diamond to give the cooking ham flavor.  The sense of smell seems to be my most basic sense of the five senses.  And two thousand years ago, Peter’s sense of smell brought him back as well.  Let me explain.  After Jesus was crucified, Peter was crushed.  So, Peter went back to Galilee to do what he knew best: fishing.  And early that morning Peter saw the resurrected Jesus.  Jesus appeared on the beach, and was cooking breakfast for him!  It was a bittersweet moment for Peter because the smell of the charcoal fire brought Peter’s memory back to a shameful night not even a week earlier.  Jesus had been arrested and Peter had followed the mob into the high priest’s courtyard.  Peter had huddled with the others near a charcoal fire warming himself.  But during the wee hours of the morning, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times before that crowd.  And as Jesus was perp-walked to Pilate, he was whisked by Peter’s charcoal fire, and their eyes met.  And Peter knew, that Jesus knew, that Peter had denied Him.  Jesus’ glance had cut Peter to the heart.   And now, in Galilee, the risen Savior was once again looking at Peter.  And the smell of the charcoal fire in Galilee reminded Peter of the charcoal fire in the high priest’s courtyard.  What a bitter memory!  And then three times (John 21:15,16, and 17), Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?”  And Peter was crushed.  Hey, do you have disappointments in your life like Peter?  Have you let he Savior down?  Do you want to respond like Peter, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love you!”  Hey, Jesus knows your heart, and Jesus is ready to forgive you.  Remember, Jesus loves you.  Why not come back to him today?