By Revd George Mwaura

[Bible readings: Psalm 43: 16–21 and John 12: 1–8]

Sacrificial God, as we journey through this Lenten season, we humbly acknowledge our need for your grace and mercy. May we, with open hearts, examine our lives, confess our shortcomings, and seek your forgiveness.

Amen

The scriptural passage we focus on today, is narrated in all the four Gospels. The details are a little bit different, for whatever reason, but the story of the perfume being poured out and the objection is the same. John is the only one who tells us that the woman was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Maybe Mary was the woman caught in adultery? We don’t know. Jesus’ act of kindness would certainly have endeared him to the family. But none of the speculation really matters; what matters is the simple act of love Mary performs for Jesus. An act that Judas objected to. His objection is revealing, and it speaks volumes about our relationship with money.

Here’s a story you’ll love. A man on his deathbed summoned his church minister, his doctor and his solicitor to visit him at the hospital. ‘I have £60,000 and I want to take it all with me when I die,’ he said. ‘I’m therefore giving each of you an envelope with £20,000 in it. At my funeral, I want each of you to come and put your envelope in my coffin.’ The man died, and each of the three did what he asked of them. Later in the week, they met up for coffee and to share their experience. The priest said, ‘I am sure if Brother Andrew had thought about it more, he would have wanted to help with the new church organ. Therefore, I took £5000 out of the envelope and put £15,000 in the coffin.’ The doctor said, ‘I too need to confess. Brother Andrew was very happy with the care I provided him when he was sick, and I knew he would want to help fund my new clinic, so I took £10,000 out of the envelope and deposited £10,000 in the coffin.’ The solicitor smiled slyly and said, ‘In that case I need to tell you both that Brother Andrew always came to me for advice before making any major decisions, and so, I made a decision that he would have agreed with. I took all the money you left in the coffin plus my £20,000 and wrote him a cheque for £45, 000!’

Friends: money is the currency of the kingdom we live in. What you do with it can make or break your happiness for ever. The most important thing that can come out of our walk with Jesus is our ability to grasp what the Bible has to say about stewardship. Second, our walk with Jesus should teach us how to put a few simple, but important, principles to work in the way we respond and use our resources.

In the gospel reading today, there was a party going on in Bethany. When they had finished eating, Martha got busy tidying up while Mary went and got a jar of very expensive oil and anointed Jesus’ feet and then wiped them with her hair. Imagine, for a moment, how this patriarchal gathering must have been scandalised! Not only was her behaviour socially unacceptable, but her extravagance was extreme! This costly perfume all the way from the Himalayan mountains would have cost nearly the equivalent of one year’s wages at the time, about £7500 in today’s value.

Now, in the United Kingdom, the average annual household income is about £34,500. Tell me, would you spend £7500 on a perfume for anyone? If you would, perhaps you can understand why you are not the church treasurer! Judas immediately objected to her wastefulness, feigning concern for the poor. But John adds that Judas was a thief and simply wanted the money for himself. Jesus puts an end to the debate by graciously accepting Mary’s gift and the thought behind it.

From this story, we learn what the Bible says about stewardship and God’s desire on how to use the resources at our disposal.

First, we need to understand that everything we have comes from God and belongs to God. Paul asks the Corinthians in his first letter: What do you have that God has not given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own? Mary, I believe, could make such a lavish gift, because she understood this overriding principle. Everything we have comes from God and belongs to God. Now, if we accept this as true, we see that our giving to God is simply an offering back of what already belongs to God.

The second principle is this: honouring God with our gifts flows out of a grateful heart. Remember, Mary’s brother Lazarus had died, and Jesus brought him back to life. How do you put a price on such a gift? How can you offer the one who brought hope in a hopeless situation anything less than everything you have? Mary’s giving must have flowed out of a heart bursting with gratitude. Similarly, Christian giving should flow, not out of an obligation, but out of gratitude.

Judas, on the other hand suffered what many people, including Christians, are afflicted with in our culture – a disease known as affluenza, which is a result of material affluence. Affluence suggests that whatever flows in, never comes out. Our affluent society stays affluent by making the containers bigger when they are just about to overflow. When the container gets bigger, the joy of overflowing gratefulness is taken away from us. But if we make the vessel smaller and smaller by reducing our needs and wants, then the overflowing comes sooner and with it, the joy of gratefulness.

I wonder, where does your giving to God flow from? God has done a lot for you, has he not? Let us see: if you are a Christian, God has given birth to you twice: once through your parents and second through the cross. Jesus died to save us from eternal condemnation and through this sacrificial act of love; we are born again to a new life. Amen!

Did Mary’s gift cost her something? Well, aside from being worth well over £7500, and losing the security of that kind of money for future needs, it may have cost her personal honour. Pay attention here, this is important. You see, what made that perfume so expensive was its intended use. Special oils and spices were imported from India and combined with native extracts to create an anointing oil used exclusively to embalm their owner. That is right! Mary understood Jesus’ ultimate purpose in coming. She pointed to his eventual death on the cross by anointing him with her own embalming oil. She offered a gift that personally cost her something very, very, dear to her.

Friends, everything we have comes from God and belongs to God. It is a wise heart that knows this and acts gratefully in service to the Lord.

Amen!