Loving Abundantly and Extravagantly
I am not the best gift giver in the world. Not because I don’t want to be, but because both growing up and in my adult life, I have been aware that “money doesn’t grow on trees”. I was raised to live frugally and be conscious of spending. I do run cost-benefit analyses’ in my mind, and not that I never splurge, but money in my world, generally had to be spent on essentials. My children —probably rightfully so — say, “You are always talking about money”. There is truth in what they say — consciousness of how and where money is being spent does occupy some headspace for me.
But I don’t want to necessarily be remembered as the miser — so at times I do try to gift something that is outside of my norm or something that may be unnecessary “just because”. Just to let them know I love them and that they are cherished. I confess it is not often, but I can see the value in extravagance at times. When someone has treated me extravagantly at times and given me something “just because” the love that fills me up — the comfort and joy of being seen —and knowing that someone sees and cares about you is quite overwhelming.
Our Gospel message today is about this type of extravagance.
Jesus is in the town of Bethany, on his way to Jerusalem for the very last time. He stops to have dinner with Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead not too long before. Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters are there as well — dinner is being served and they are catching up with each other and having fellowship.
We don’t know what they talked about around the table that night. I imagine everyone knew what was going to happen next for Jesus. When Lazarus came back to life —word about Jesus had spread even farther than it already had. Jesus had defeated death itself in raising Lazarus from the dead and many more came to believe in him. As more began to believe, others began to fear. The Pharisees began their plot have Jesus killed. Fear of the Romans and what could happen had taken control of the religious sector.
Lazarus’ family gathered around the dinner table that night seems to be aware of what was coming. Mary takes a bottle of costly perfume and anoints Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair. I can’t imagine how this went over. A personal, intimate act with all those gathered to witness.
Anointings, when they happened, for a king or whomever, generally would have happened on their heads — an anointing of a person’s feet was especially out of the ordinary and a strange act —perhaps reflecting that Mary had an understanding of who Jesus was —understanding that this King was different —and understanding Jesus’ role as a servant king.
Judas balks at the waste of the anointing and piously asserts that the money could have been used for the poor. Jesus rebukes him — says, “Let her alone. You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”
Lent is a season in which we hold the dual themes of scarcity and abundance jointly. In this season, we have walked through the wilderness, reflecting inward, perhaps contemplating our reliance on the comfortable and known, perhaps embracing new disciplines, and pondering who we really are in relation to our God. Lent is a time for truth-telling.
We look inward and consider our need for a Saviour. We may have chosen to fast at various times or to go without something — deprivation can foster spiritual growth by encouraging us to focus on God, prayer and almsgiving. It can help us identify and address areas where our desires have become distorted into needs.
I am guilty as any one of flipping through a magazine or catalog or the internet and seeing something and saying, “Oh, I need that”. In reality — my needs are very little as are most of yours.
In our book study for Lent, we have reflected on some of the prayers offered at compline. Compline is said at night and so the prayers reflect night and darkness. And some things we can only learn at night or when times seem dark for us. Sickness and suffering are the great equalizers. When we suffer — we become aware of what is really important in life as opposed to those times when all is going well. It seems to be human nature that it is the more difficult times that can truly help shape us to be more Christ - like.
Which is really the theme of the Gospel. It is in dying that we have new life. We have to die first.
In today’s gospel, we are shown two different ways we can choose to be in this world. The Pharisees —and then the Roman authorities — were feeling threatened. And faced with loss they tightened their grip and plotted to kill Jesus. Maybe with Jesus gone, they could continue to assert the control they had — get rid of this guy who is threatening the status quo. For Judas it was all just too much. We can feel Judas cringing in uncomfortableness as Mary lavishes this costly perfume on Jesus feet and then uses her own hair to wipe it up. I imagine it made many there uncomfortable.
We in our own lives can begin to operate in a spirit of scarcity — “Hey, that is too much — why waste that?” We can pretend with false piety as Judas did that we are concerned about the waste — and not look at the hardness of our own hearts and our uncomfortableness with extravagance — Or we can operate as Mary did.
We can begin to understand the power of excessive love and how sometimes extravagance and abundance have such profound effects on others that we may be wise to consider practicing this kind of love in our own lives. It may have been this extravagant act by Mary that helped Jesus endure what was to come. The perfume we are told would cost as much as a year’s total wages. I confess, I would have cringed. It would have been difficult for me.
At this time the Pharisees have begun their plot to kill Jesus. The road to Jerusalem is there. Jesus knows what is ahead. And Mary seems to understand. Sometimes extravagant acts of love are the things that carry us through. Sometimes is can be those acts that give us strength when we are on our own roads to Jerusalem.
This story shows us that there at least two ways of dealing with people and things. We can seek to control, shun, be stingy in our false piety, and operate as Judas— or we can lavish abundantly those around us understanding that sometimes abundance —shocking abundance —communicates something to people that our words may fail to convey.
Our God is not a God of cost-benefit analyses. That can be hard for many of us to understand and grapple with. A mindset of extravagance is counter-cultural to us.
The generosity in this gospel reading prompts us to consider our own attitudes toward giving —especially the ways in which we offer ourselves to God. Do we make time or use our imaginations for risky, generous offerings, like Mary who poured out an abundance of expensive oil on Jesus’ feet?
Maybe this week we live our lives thinking of abundance. Maybe contemplating what some seemingly extravagant and useless act may mean to someone else. Maybe understanding it may provide the encouragement and support someone needs to get them through whatever trial they may be going through or that may lie ahead. Maybe we reflect and honor the deep-seated generosity of our Creator who gives us life by bringing us out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.
Walter Brueggemann (an American Protestant Old Testament scholar) wrote a prayer “On Generosity”,
You come giving bread in the wilderness,
You come giving children at the eleventh hour,
You come giving homes to exiles,
You come giving futures to the shut-down,
You come giving Easter joy to the dead.
May we live lives that do the same.
Amen.
But I don’t want to necessarily be remembered as the miser — so at times I do try to gift something that is outside of my norm or something that may be unnecessary “just because”. Just to let them know I love them and that they are cherished. I confess it is not often, but I can see the value in extravagance at times. When someone has treated me extravagantly at times and given me something “just because” the love that fills me up — the comfort and joy of being seen —and knowing that someone sees and cares about you is quite overwhelming.
Our Gospel message today is about this type of extravagance.
Jesus is in the town of Bethany, on his way to Jerusalem for the very last time. He stops to have dinner with Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead not too long before. Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters are there as well — dinner is being served and they are catching up with each other and having fellowship.
We don’t know what they talked about around the table that night. I imagine everyone knew what was going to happen next for Jesus. When Lazarus came back to life —word about Jesus had spread even farther than it already had. Jesus had defeated death itself in raising Lazarus from the dead and many more came to believe in him. As more began to believe, others began to fear. The Pharisees began their plot have Jesus killed. Fear of the Romans and what could happen had taken control of the religious sector.
Lazarus’ family gathered around the dinner table that night seems to be aware of what was coming. Mary takes a bottle of costly perfume and anoints Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair. I can’t imagine how this went over. A personal, intimate act with all those gathered to witness.
Anointings, when they happened, for a king or whomever, generally would have happened on their heads — an anointing of a person’s feet was especially out of the ordinary and a strange act —perhaps reflecting that Mary had an understanding of who Jesus was —understanding that this King was different —and understanding Jesus’ role as a servant king.
Judas balks at the waste of the anointing and piously asserts that the money could have been used for the poor. Jesus rebukes him — says, “Let her alone. You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”
Lent is a season in which we hold the dual themes of scarcity and abundance jointly. In this season, we have walked through the wilderness, reflecting inward, perhaps contemplating our reliance on the comfortable and known, perhaps embracing new disciplines, and pondering who we really are in relation to our God. Lent is a time for truth-telling.
We look inward and consider our need for a Saviour. We may have chosen to fast at various times or to go without something — deprivation can foster spiritual growth by encouraging us to focus on God, prayer and almsgiving. It can help us identify and address areas where our desires have become distorted into needs.
I am guilty as any one of flipping through a magazine or catalog or the internet and seeing something and saying, “Oh, I need that”. In reality — my needs are very little as are most of yours.
In our book study for Lent, we have reflected on some of the prayers offered at compline. Compline is said at night and so the prayers reflect night and darkness. And some things we can only learn at night or when times seem dark for us. Sickness and suffering are the great equalizers. When we suffer — we become aware of what is really important in life as opposed to those times when all is going well. It seems to be human nature that it is the more difficult times that can truly help shape us to be more Christ - like.
Which is really the theme of the Gospel. It is in dying that we have new life. We have to die first.
In today’s gospel, we are shown two different ways we can choose to be in this world. The Pharisees —and then the Roman authorities — were feeling threatened. And faced with loss they tightened their grip and plotted to kill Jesus. Maybe with Jesus gone, they could continue to assert the control they had — get rid of this guy who is threatening the status quo. For Judas it was all just too much. We can feel Judas cringing in uncomfortableness as Mary lavishes this costly perfume on Jesus feet and then uses her own hair to wipe it up. I imagine it made many there uncomfortable.
We in our own lives can begin to operate in a spirit of scarcity — “Hey, that is too much — why waste that?” We can pretend with false piety as Judas did that we are concerned about the waste — and not look at the hardness of our own hearts and our uncomfortableness with extravagance — Or we can operate as Mary did.
We can begin to understand the power of excessive love and how sometimes extravagance and abundance have such profound effects on others that we may be wise to consider practicing this kind of love in our own lives. It may have been this extravagant act by Mary that helped Jesus endure what was to come. The perfume we are told would cost as much as a year’s total wages. I confess, I would have cringed. It would have been difficult for me.
At this time the Pharisees have begun their plot to kill Jesus. The road to Jerusalem is there. Jesus knows what is ahead. And Mary seems to understand. Sometimes extravagant acts of love are the things that carry us through. Sometimes is can be those acts that give us strength when we are on our own roads to Jerusalem.
This story shows us that there at least two ways of dealing with people and things. We can seek to control, shun, be stingy in our false piety, and operate as Judas— or we can lavish abundantly those around us understanding that sometimes abundance —shocking abundance —communicates something to people that our words may fail to convey.
Our God is not a God of cost-benefit analyses. That can be hard for many of us to understand and grapple with. A mindset of extravagance is counter-cultural to us.
The generosity in this gospel reading prompts us to consider our own attitudes toward giving —especially the ways in which we offer ourselves to God. Do we make time or use our imaginations for risky, generous offerings, like Mary who poured out an abundance of expensive oil on Jesus’ feet?
Maybe this week we live our lives thinking of abundance. Maybe contemplating what some seemingly extravagant and useless act may mean to someone else. Maybe understanding it may provide the encouragement and support someone needs to get them through whatever trial they may be going through or that may lie ahead. Maybe we reflect and honor the deep-seated generosity of our Creator who gives us life by bringing us out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.
Walter Brueggemann (an American Protestant Old Testament scholar) wrote a prayer “On Generosity”,
You come giving bread in the wilderness,
You come giving children at the eleventh hour,
You come giving homes to exiles,
You come giving futures to the shut-down,
You come giving Easter joy to the dead.
May we live lives that do the same.
Amen.