“Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.“
Acts 9:43

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JANUARY 16, 2025

I have a sensitive nose. I can smell that wet dishcloth the second it starts getting stale, or the onion that has just begun to rot in the pantry.

With or without a bloodhound’s nose, we in 2025 are not used to the natural smells of living, and we work hard to eliminate them. We have deodorants and take frequent showers. We have bathroom sprays and disposable diapers; we are many steps removed from the odors found on working farms, let alone meat processing plants.

In the first century, people were accustomed to more smells. Yet even they regarded the tanning process to be particularly foul. If you want to read a detailed description, do not do so over breakfast! Suffice it to say that there are multiple disgusting steps involving dung, fermentation, and more.

The smell was so bad that tanners were required to live outside the city. A Jewish woman could divorce her husband if he was a tanner, if she could no longer stand the stench. That’s saying something, as there were very few reasons that a woman could initiate divorce!

Peter had just performed incredible miracles in the area, and many turned to Christ. Surely he would have enjoyed the favor of many, and likely would have had his choice of lodgings. Yet of all places, he stayed with this tanner “for some time.” Perhaps Peter’s fishing career prepared him for stench, but certainly Peter was aware of the low status and poor reputation of his host’s line of work.

Again, this is the Peter who was once concerned with a servant girl’s opinion, now unconcerned with perhaps the whole town’s view of him. Willing to associate with a social outcast. This is Peter growing in grace and the knowledge of God, able to later end his second letter with these words:

 

 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
2 Peter 3:18

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • Have you avoided someone because they smell bad or because that person is a social outcast?
  • What is outweighing love in your motivation?
  • In what “odiferous” place might God want you to hang out “for some time” to bring access to God’s grace or to wait on God? Are you ok with being associated with “those” people?

 

Church Reading Plan: Genesis 17; Matthew 16