Growing in Generosity: The Motive of Generosity


What motivates our greatest generosity?  Guilt?  Duty?  Need?  In John 12:1-6, we find that the motivation for the most profound generosity is love.

It was the Saturday before the Friday on which Jesus was crucified.  Jesus' friends Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were having a dinner in Jesus' honor.  Jesus recently raised Lazarus from the dead.  It must have been a joyous celebration, though Jesus knew the time of his passion was near.

When they ate in those days, they didn't sit in chairs.  Instead, they reclined on pillows or couches around low tables.  Their heads were at the table, while their feet were away from it.  Martha was serving the meal.  Lazarus was at the table with everyone else.

While dinner was going on, Mary entered the room, carrying an alabaster jar.  She went to Jesus' feet, broke open the jar, and poured its contents on Jesus' feet.  The smell of fragrant perfume filled the room where they were gathered, along with the whole house.  Then Mary wiped Jesus' feet with her hair.

Everyone at the dinner was shocked when they realized she had poured a pint of expensive perfume on Jesus' feet.  It was worth a year's wages.  That would make it worth about $40,000 today.  It had to have been one of Mary's greatest treasures.

Judas got uncomfortable with Mary's act.  He protested, saying the perfume should have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor.  

Jesus told him to leave her alone.  It was intended that she save this perfume for the day of his burial.  
I don't know Mary knew she was anointing Jesus' body for his burial.  I do know she wanted to give Jesus an extravagant gift to honor him.  She may have sensed something big was at hand.  Or maybe she was expressing her gratitude that Jesus raised Lazarus.

Our motivations for giving to God's work through the church vary.  Guilt is often a go-to motivation!  How can we enjoy a new car when people are lost and going to hell?  Then there's duty.  It's what we ought to do!  There's need.  We'll have to close the doors to the church if we don't give!

But the motivation for our most profound giving is love.  Mary gave to Jesus out of love for him.  Do we love him that much?  Are we willing to make gift that extravagant?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Dynamite: The Battle Within

Image
"It was on fire when I lay down on it."  Robert Fulghum wrote about reading this statement in a small town newspaper.   Smoke was billowing from a second story window.  The Fire Department arrived, broke down the front door, ran up a set of stairs, and pulled a man off a burning bed.  Later, when they asked him how he got in that predicament, he said, "It was on fire when I lay down on it." Why on earth did he do that?  We don't know, but his story reveals a human truth.  We often do self-destructive things.  We testify, "People told me not to do it, but I did it anyway."  "I knew it was wrong, but I did it." The apostle Paul wrote about our human propensity to sin and self-destructive behavior in Romans 7:14-25.  Verse 15 sums up his point, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do."   He describes an intense inner battle.  On one side is the "flesh," his
Read more

God's Dynamite:Being in Your Right Mind

Image
What's your frame of mind today?  In this time of pandemic and shutdown, you may be worried or bored or pessimistic or lonely or depressed. Or all the above! What determines your frame of mind?  Is it your circumstances? Your will? Is your frame of mind molded by what's going on at the moment, or can you reshape it? The apostle Paul talked about our minds in Romans 8:1ff.  He said that can determine what we set our minds to.  We can focus our minds on following our lower natures or the Holy Spirit who lives inside us.   A fact that should help our frame of mind is that we're God's children.  In a sense, everyone is God's child.  God made all of us.  But in a spiritual sense, we fully become God's children when we put our faith in Christ and follow him.   We're not his children because we're better than others.  We're his children because we've put our faith in Christ and followed him.   As his children, we have status.  H
Read more

God's Dynamite: Resurrection Transformation

Image
Easter is about more than you going to heaven.  That's part of it, but not near all!  It's about your death and resurrection. In Romans 6, Paul was answering opponents.  Those opponents said that if salvation is by God's grace through faith, then you have no motivation for righteous living and good works.  Why not sin more to get more grace? Paul answered by using the image of baptism.  He said when the pastor plunged you under water, he symbolized your death in Christ.  Through faith you died on the cross with Jesus.  Your old self was a slave to sin and rebellion against God.   Paul said when the pastor raised you up from the water, he symbolized your resurrection in Christ.  Not just in the future but in the present.  In faith, you identify with Jesus' death and his resurrection.  You're raised to a new life, free from slavery to sin. So Easter is about more than personal salvation.  It's about transformation: dying to an old life and ris
Read more