Holy Week Day Five: Giving God Everything

Day Five: Giving Jesus Everything
Passages:
Mark 12:41-44 The Widow's Offering
Mark 14:1-9 Jesus Anointed at Bethany
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+12%3A41-44%2C+Mark+14%3A1-9&version=NIV

I believe that it is no accident that both of these stories are about women. Jesus was all about turning the traditions of society on its head. He cared for those who were seen as cursed. He associated with those who were seen as tainted by sin. And he exalted those who were seen as lowly.

The Poor Widow: In Jesus' day, you did not get much lower than being a poor widow. You were a woman, and you were not valuable to have around. You could not remarry and so contribute to society. Instead, you relied on others for your well-being. Some widows were wealthy enough to live on their own income and savings, but not this one. Imagine being immersed in that mindset from childhood, and then being there when Jesus says that out of all the offerings he's seen that day, he values her gift the most.

The Woman with the Perfume: By the same token, the woman with the perfume was not seen in very high esteem by the other people at the table. She was wasting her resource of income on one thing. But what others called foolish and wasteful, Jesus called beautiful. She recognized Jesus' value as being more than the value of her perfume. And in return for her sacrificial service, she receives one of my favorite blessings in the New Testament: "Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." (Mark 14:9)

Not only do I like the fact that Jesus saw and valued these offerings for their true worth, but I also like how well he cut through the pride of those who were promoting--flaunting--their own righteousness.

The Rich Givers: These people threw in large amounts of money to the treasury in order to boast. They were showing off how much money they gave, and how much they had in the first place. And yet when Jesus saw them, he said "Your offering is not as valuable to me." The literal worth of their gift was less than that of the Widow's. There was absolutely no self-promotion in her action. She was doing everything she could to love God with the resources she had.

The Scoffers: I'm not a fan of people who look at an offering to God and say "What a waste!" Apparently, neither is Jesus. After he tells them to leave the woman alone, he tries to give them a taste of her perspective. They were taking him for granted. Can you imagine his hurt when they proved that they loved money more than him? During his last week of life on earth?

Right Response
God expects everything from us. It is not the amount that he is concerned with, it is the percentage. Do you have two copper coins? Put them both in the basket. Do you have the most expensive perfume in the most beautiful jar? Pour out it all.
No amount is "good enough" until every last bit is given.

There's another part of the sentence "the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me" that I want to touch on briefly. Doing good, like giving to the poor, only has value if it is done as an offering to Jesus. We never use righteous acts to earn favor or salvation. God cannot be bribed, and we cannot be perfect! We cannot even be good. Such acts are only done to earn favor with people. If we are being good for the sake of being good, it's no good! We're doing it out of order:
First, we love God.

Then we love our neighbors.

The first recipient is more important--more valuable than the next. If we "waste" all our love on God, it's no waste at all. If we have some left over, it overflows naturally to our neighbors.
And as we pour out that love to those two sources, the love we receive back for ourselves has the same ranking for it's value: God's love for us is more important than people's.

This point is very close to what I said on Tuesday (Day 3): Do not try to do the work of God without him!
Instead, wait to be properly equipped before setting out on the job. 

And not only do we need to be properly equipped, but we need to have the right heart behind the actions. It's a heart we get from God, because we've given our hearts to God. A beautiful exchange!

Here's my challenge for you for today:

• Evaluate what God's value is to you. Are you taking him for granted? Has he not earned the obedience, love, respect, and physical resources he expects from you?
• Evaluate your priorities. Are you giving God the first and the best? Are you saving some for yourself, in an effort to maintain control? Are you trying to keep alive a "safety net"?
• Evaluate your motives. Is your righteousness a matter of showing off? Are you settling for giving 50% because it is technically more than what other people are giving?
• Pray, and ask God what it is that he wants you to give him, that you've been reluctant to bring up to this point. Then hand it over already!

It's amazing how simple, and how hard a lot of things are in God's kingdom. Giving everything to God is one of them. Does it need ceremony? No. Does it need a big speech? Uh uh. Is it a complicated process that requires days of fasting followed by the most articulate prayer ever uttered? Of course not. It is so simple, and yet it can feel huge. It can feel big enough to require speeches and ceremonies and special prayers.

It feels that big because you can't do it on your own. No offering is complete without the Holy Spirit being poured out on top.

(Unbelievable! That picture is perfectly represented by the drink offering in the law! At Passover and other festivals, each sacrifice consists of a burnt offering, a grain offering, and a drink offering. Perhaps it can be seen as this: an atonement offering for sin, a thanksgiving offering for blessings, and a fellowship offering for communion. Or it's an offering of all the different kinds of resources God blesses us with: from the herd, from the field, and from the vineyard. That's pretty cool, if not relevant. I did not see that coming!). 

Basically, a sacrifice (or any other gift!) is not just for meeting certain demands, but also to give thanks, and to enjoy fellowship. And what better fellowship do we have with the Father than through the pouring out of his Holy Spirit and through the sacrifice of his Son? That is why we need all three to be involved when we give things to God or do things for him. So keep that in mind as you evaluate yourself today, and as you prepare your heart to receive God's great gift to you tomorrow (Good Friday).