03-17-2024 Smelling Like a Rose

Thomas J Parlette
“Smelling Like a Rose”
Psalm 51: 1-12
3/17/24
          Of all the features of the human face, the nose probably gets the least respect. There are a myriad of poems written about silken hair, beautiful eyes and ruby red lips – but I don’t remember a single poem about the beauty of the nose.
But the jokes – yes, those abound. You’ve probably heard them before:
-         When I’m lying down, it looks like a sundial.
-         My nose is so big that when I do the backstroke, the lifeguard had the beach evacuated, thinking it was a shark.
-         My nose is so big that when I sneeze, everyone runs for cover.
         My nose arrives at my destination 10 minutes before I do. (1)
If you’d like to hear more, google that old Steve Martin movie “Roxanne” for that classic scene where he turns the tables on some guy in a bar who teases him about his nose.
     While it may not be beautiful, the nose is critical for our sense of smell. There’s a whole area of science dedicated to smell called the science of olfaction – the detection and identification of airborne chemicals and scents. Olfaction research is a rapidly growing discipline that not only studies how we recognize the whiff of a dead skunk lying on the side of the road, but also studies the ever-creative ways humans have of making themselves or their surroundings smell good.
     The science of smell is more than a reference to the ointments, creams, lotions, sprays and gels that ensure our armpits and feet are not offensive, or that your perfume or cologne is not overpowering. It is also about how we can live in an environment that is fragrant, healthy and olfactory-positive for those delightful nasal receptors that tell us when chocolate chip cookies are baking in the oven, or that heavenly smell when we walk into a bakery. (2)
     One’s sense of smell is so powerful that it can evoke long-held memories and be an aid to learning and memory retention, especially for those who are aging. In a recent study, participants were given a machine that released a brief spray of rose, orange, eucalyptus, lemon, peppermint, rosemary and lavender scents during sleep. The researchers then discovered that there was a 226 % improvement on a learning and memory test among those who “slept with a strong nightly scent compared with those that diffused distilled water every night.”  (3) So pleasing aromas can help you sleep. I suppose the opposite might be true as well – bad smells are hard to live with.
     In the Psalm before us today, almost always attributed to King David – David addresses a problem with his stinky behavior that is keeping him up at night.
     The King of Israel has done something bad – something that stinks to high heaven. It’s been a long time since he has smelled like a rose. Instead, he is more of a walking landfill, a toxic waste site.
     It’s an apt metaphor. The United States has 3,091 active landfills and more than 10,000 old municipal landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and most of them leak. (4) In some ways, this is David’s problem here in Psalm 51 – he knows he has a sin problem, and the problem of sin is that it leaks out and pollutes others.
     Landfills are basically bathtubs in the ground with liners and double-liners and so on. They can leak out the bottom or over the top, and towns like to locate their landfills far away. Which is precisely what David tried to do – keep his dirty little secrets hidden and out of sight where we think no one will notice. But, of course, it never works out that way.
     David’s behavior is stinking up the place and he knows it. He wants his life to smell like a rose again. He wants that fragrance that comes with being blessed by God. He wants the still waters of peace and green pastures of posterity to return.
     This is the key to the Psalm – David’s search for peace. And the key elements of this quest are confession, repentance and restoration.
     Verses 1-5 is where we see David’s confession. “I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me,” he cries. He has sinned against God, and what he has done is “evil in your sight.” He says that God has every right to “pass judgment” and sentence him to a punishment that is severe and just.
     David is right. His crimes were evil, and callous and selfish. You remember the story of Bathsheba, David’s beautiful neighbor. He sees her bathing on a nearby rooftop, and he is overcome with desire. So he arranges to have her husband sent to the front lines of the most dangerous battle – a suicide mission to be sure. He, in effect, has him murdered. David’s conduct was evil and if he were alive today in the United States, he probably would have been given several life sentences without parole or maybe even the death penalty in some places
     But he was honest in his confession about what he had done. And that’s a good thing. Martin Luther once observed that whoever first called Psalm 51 a “Penitential Psalm” knew what he was doing. The claim that Psalm 51 has been used in full or in part more often in worship and devotion than any other scripture is probably true. (5) We see this Psalm every year, more than once, in Advent and Lent, our two great seasons of confession and repentance.
     Now, I’m pretty sure none of us here has done something as bad as King David did – at least I hope not. But the Bible does urge us to confess our sins, whatever they may be. That can be the starting point for refreshing our lives. Consider the words of another piece of scripture, this from Proverbs 28:13: “No one who conceals transgressions will prosper, but one who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
     There is no doubt that David, considering his body of work in the Psalms and his close relationship with Samuel, the last ruling Judge of Israel, knew the scriptures. He knew he had to own up to his misdeeds.
     David moves on from confession to repentance in verse 6, and his pleas continue through verse 11. But the word “repent” doesn’t appear even once. In fact, the English word “repent” doesn’t appear very often in the Old Testament, less than a dozen times and that’s if you’re reading the King James Version. But the Hebrew word for “repent” or “repentance is a form of “shuv”, meaning “turn, and it occurs more than a 1,000 times in the Hebrew Bible. In the New Testament, the Greek word for repentance is “metanoia”, which essentially means to change one’s mind. (6)
     Think of Psalm 51 like a courtroom scene from Law or Order or a show like that. The trial is over, and the judge asks the convicted felon of there is anything he wants to say before the sentence is imposed. Psalm 51 is that statement. It is David, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, standing at one of those long, legal tables and addressing the judge. It begins with confession, and now, David starts to change his mind, he starts to turn in verse 6, expressing remorse and contrition. It’s an about-face for the proud and arrogant man who had formerly strutted and preened before a sunbathing married woman and who had later conspired to bring about the death of his rival for her affections. That person is gone. Now, David wants a total makeover of his spiritual house. He wants to rid himself of his foul smelling deeds, and restore the scent of God’s loving kindness. He uses words like “purge”, and “clean” and “wash”. He wants to be “whiter than snow.”
     When we turn from sin, we can ask God, as David does, to “hide your face from my sins.” In this psalm he comes straight to the point: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” Clearly, David is doing something more than saying he’s sorry. He wants to do-over. He wants a make-over. He wants to be a new person, a new creation. He wants a fresh start, a new beginning. He is at the turning point we call repentance. The confessor is ready to turn, leave behind their former life and set off on a new path of restoration.
     Restoration is never an easy road. Our personal relations and our human-Divine relationships are fragile and complex, prone to misunderstandings, conflicts and ultimately possible dissolution. Whether it’s a friendship, a romantic partnership, a family tie or even a professional relationship – no connection is immune from strain.
     However, just as relationships can be damaged, they can also be repaired and revitalized, especially after taking the first steps of confession and repentance.
     David seeks a reconciliation, a restoration with God. He knows it is possible because God is a forgiving God. It didn’t exist in David’s time, but I think he could have written the lyrics to that old hymn:
    “There is a wideness in God’s mercy,
      Like the wideness of the sea.
      There’s a kindness in God’s justice,
Which is more than liberty.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measures of the mind,
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.”
David’s knowledge of the wideness of God’s mercy, the kindness in God’s justice and his understanding that the love of God is deep and broad, and the heart of God is most wonderfully kind, empowers him to pray for restoration: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.”
David is doing everything right as he seeks restoration. He has engaged in self-reflection, he has acknowledged his sin. He understands his need for spiritual and personal growth, he is genuinely sorry for his mistakes and he wants to start over fresh. He knows this is a complex journey, but it’s not impossible. He has done the right things – Confession, Repentance and Restoration.
Kurt Vonnegut once said, “I still believe that peace and plenty and happiness can be worked out some way. I am a fool.” (7). With all due respect to Vonnegut, I would not agree. I think he’s closer to the Kingdom than he realizes. David also believed peace and plenty and happiness could, against all odds, be worked out some way.
          There is no better feeling than the peace that comes after the storm. The silence after the thunder. Clean air that smells like lilacs. Wide smiles of relief and joy. It’s a great feeling, and David remembers that feeling from experience. And he wants to feel it again.
          He wants to inhale fresh air. He wants to catch the aroma of peace, once again wafting through his life. What David wants is what we all want – who doesn’t want to live in harmony with God and with others?
          Fortunately, David discovered the secret to finding peace and removing the stench of sin in his life. He learned how he could come out smelling like a rose. The keys are Confession, Repentance and Restoration. Working with these three components of contrition, he could experience the joy of peace once again.
          “Smelling like a rose” describes that sweet-smelling state of divine grace and goodness. The expression reminds us that it is possible to sink to an unbelievably low point in life, as David did, to stink to high heaven, only to have high heaven come down and refresh us with restoration and peace.
          And when heaven fills our soul, nothing else matters.
          May be praised. Amen.
1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 2/6/24.
2. Ibid…
3. Ibid…
4. Ibid…
5.. Ibid…
6. James L. Mays, Psalms, John Knox Press, 1994, p 197-198.
7. Homileticsonline, retrieved 2/6/24