WJThis past week I found myself on the side of Mt. Kinabalu, Borneo looking for the largest flower in the world. It only grows in the jungle, and the Rafflesia arnoldii can reach over a yard across! It is easily the largest flower in the world. We found three, and each one was larger than my hat.
Rafflesia has no leaves or roots. It is a parasitic plant that invades the jungle vines of Tetrastigma in which it hides until it is ready to bloom. Then Rafflesia forms a bud on the outside of its host and grows to the size of a large cabbage. (The largest one weighed over 24 pounds!)
Next, it unfolds into a gigantic, reddish-brown flower, that smells like rotting flesh. Thus its common name, the Corpse Flower. Rather than bees, Rafflesia relies on flies for pollination.
The Apostle Paul told the -Corinthians:
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life (2 Corinthians 2:14–16).
To those outside of Christ, we may smell like death because before the Gospel is good news, it is bad news. The old, sinful, selfish person must die before he can truly live, but to those who are in Christ, no smell on earth is sweeter than Jesus Christ. The new person truly has the fragrance of life!