S -
"While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a
woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she
poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw
this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could
have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this,
Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful
thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always
have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for
burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the
world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”" (Matthew
26:6-13 NIV)
O - I
wonder if Simon was still a leper at this point in the story of his life? I'm thinking not, at least if Jesus had been
asked to help. At a time when street
addresses and national identity cards were nonexistent the designation would
stick even if his condition had been remedied.
Regardless, the woman finds her way to where Jesus is reclining and
unloads her precious cargo. The result
is interesting on many levels but I'm thinking about two. First, the value and resale of the perfume
was not sought to increase the amount of working capital the twelve had. Their first thought was it could have been
given to the poor not it could have extended the reach and duration of our
ministry platform. This leads to the
second thought. Clearly they are not
worried about money. We have no record
of Jesus ever being out of it. Even in
feeding the 5,000 the Scriptures make it clear they had both the funds (Mark
6:37) and the opportunity to buy the food (Luke 9:12) … he just had something
else in mind (John 6:6). While he didn't own a chariot and had "no place
to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20) he always had a place to sleep. Apparently the twelve believed and lived out
the reality of Jesus' teaching on money: you can't serve God and money (even daily
bread money) and don't worry about it … follow wholeheartedly and it will be
added.
A - I
admit that my training would have inspired me to think of the resale of the
perfume as a great way to further extend whatever my current ministry platform
might be. Sell the perfume, put the
funds into the ministry and then maybe give some of it to the poor or
others. This thinking is called good
stewardship by the world and is identified as tragic by heaven (financial leprosy). Jesus is calling all who follow, me included,
to think differently about everything … to repent because the kingdom is near,
not far away.
P - God
of daily bread and God of me,
I admit that I can't serve
you and money … all money. I admit that
you're pleased to give us your kingdom and to add what is needed for daily
living. I admit that my thinking on this
is often wrong even though it’s logical.
Thank you for this insight into the thinking of those who were closest
to Jesus. Thank you that transformed
thinking, speaking, loving and living is your gift to all who will
receive. I accept and am so glad to be
living and praying in Jesus' name.
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment