Malcolm Cox

Sense of smell In terms of the number of distinguishable stimuli, our sense of smell can detect thousands of different odours. Additionally, smell is closely linked to memory and emotion. During the COVID epidemic many sufferers lost their sense of smell, and speaking for myself I’ve occasionally experienced phantom smells - quite often dog poo! What do smells have to do with Easter? Death smells bad Perhaps you remember Martha’s comment when Jesus ordered that the stone blocking Lazarus’ tomb be removed: “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.”” (John 11:39 NIV11) It’s not surprising Martha was reluctant to open the tomb. After four days of death, she knew her brother’s body would smell bad. Spices were used to reduce the bad smell. Consider what happened when Jesus was buried: “Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in