November 12, 2023

“Three Words for our World: Generosity”

Mark 14:3-9

David A. Shirey

Broadway Christian Church

            We're in rarified air this morning.  Before us is one of just a handful of incidents in Jesus' ministry that caused him to shake his head in wonder at what happened. Usually, it's us who are ooh-ing and aah-ing at what Jesus did. But I know of four instances when somebody did something so remarkable it stopped Jesus in his tracks and evoked his praise.

• On one occasion, a centurion whose servant was paralyzed asked Jesus if he would come to his ailing servant's side. That Roman army officer was so awed in Jesus' presence that he said “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8).  Jesus was so taken by the man's faith and humility he said, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith" (Matthew 8:10).  High praise.

• On another occasion, Jesus was sitting with his disciples in the Temple, watching as people made their offerings.  A widow walked up and dropped in two copper coins, whereupon Jesus got his disciples’ attention and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.  For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:43-44).  That's high praise, too. 

• When Jesus asked, “Who do people say that I am?” and Peter said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God,” Jesus exclaimed, “Blessed are you … for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:16, 17).    

• Then this: an unnamed woman entered a home where Jesus was eating.  She broke open a flask of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.  In response, Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6 NIV). Then he added, “Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her” (Mark 14:9).  And sure enough, we’ve now been told the “beautiful thing” she did.            

            Though there are many ways to understand what she did that was beautiful, surely one of the most beautiful things was her generosity. Like the widow in the Temple who gave Jesus everything she had (two copper coins), the woman gave Jesus everything she had, an alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. In Mark's words, "pure nard, very costly" that “could have been sold for more than 300 denarii" (Mark 14:3, 5). How much is that?  Three hundred denarii was roughly a year's wages. Imagine breaking open your piggy bank and in one fell swoop making an offering totaling a full year's pay checks. That, says Jesus, is “something beautiful.” That’s some generosity.

            But even more than the amount she gave was the way she gave it.  Mark says, "She broke the flask and poured out the whole thing over Jesus' head" (Mark 14:3).  I learned the Greek word translated broke is the same word used in Exodus to describe what Moses did to the stone tablets when he came down from Mt. Sinai and saw the people of Israel worshipping the golden calf[1] He broke them all right—smashed them to smithereens. And so did the unnamed woman in this story break open her flask as she emptied out its contents on Jesus' head.  Meaning she gave with reckless abandon – smashed open that flask and poured out its precious contents – every last drop.  Beautiful!

            What a contrast to the giving that was expected in those days!  Back then, the socially acceptable thing to do was for the host of a party to drop a few drops of perfume onto the head of a guest when they arrived. Got that? Drop. Drop. Drop. Three drops is enough.  It strikes me that “three drops is enough” pretty well describes how we're conditioned to give in our society as well. We calculate what we have, determine what would be about right, what our fair share is, what would be good enough, and then, holding the medicine dropper just so, we measure out one, two, three drops. By contrast, that blessedly generous woman smashed all expectations and poured out everything she had.  And Jesus, who was accustomed to receiving offerings drop by drop by drop, was dumbfounded and said, “She has done a beautiful thing to me."

            Is it any wonder Jesus recognized extravagant generosity when he saw it?  God, after all, is the gracious giver par excellence. The tagline of a commercial says Nobody out-pizzas The Hut. Well, nobody out-generouses God. When God created the heavens and the earth, did God do it with a medicine dropper mentality?  

How many stars should I spring for in the night sky?  How about three?  Drop, drop, drop.  Spices? Two. Salt and pepper. Flowers?  Unnecessary frills.  Colors?  How many can I afford? People.  Let’s make one kind. They won’t appreciate the differences anyway!  Missouri: for the eastern border, a Mississippi Creek’ll do. That’s enough. And down in the southwest corner – a Pond of the Ozarks is plenty, don’t you think?

When God entered history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth to bless, teach, heal, and redeem us, did God measure out grace in three drop increments? Heavens, no! As the beloved Scripture passage reminds us, “God so loved the world that God gave.” Love gives.  Divine love gives extravagantly. 

            Here’s the thing: we’re created in the image of God. That means we’re made by a generous God to be generous people. Somebody said there are two types of people in this world – givers and takers. Generous is what God made us to be …   

            But our culture makes us takers. How so? By forming in us what might be called a scarcity mindset: the deep-seated belief we don’t have enough. A survey done several years ago asked people what income they needed to be financially secure. No matter the income level, the response was a number 10% more than what they were making. Nobody felt they had enough! With a scarcity mindset, give becomes a four-letter word because if I’m convinced I don’t have enough, giving means I’ll have even less than enough. So, I live life in a defensive posture, holding on to what’s mine (or my nation’s), defending it from others who don’t have enough and want to take what’s mine. It’s said the problem in our world is not that there’s not enough food, water, resources, land, or capital, the problem is that what God provided for all isn’t shared equitably by many. What there’s not enough of is generosity.  

            As people of faith, our birthright is an abundance mindset— the blessed assurance that life is given by a good and gracious God who has provided plenty to be enjoyed and shared by all. An abundance mindset says, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” (Ps 23:1). So, I live and give so others don’t live in want, either. An abundance mindset sings, “All I have needed thy hands have provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me” So, I live out my faithfulness with my hands open to provide for neighbors near and far. I’ve come to believe that living out of an abundance mindset as opposed to a scarcity mindset is a choice made by the soul, not by economic circumstance because I’ve known people of more-than-abundant means who live life out of a scarcity mindset and I’ve known people of very modest means who live and give out of a wellspring of abundance. Our culture marinates us in a scarcity mindset that makes us takers, but we’re created in the image of God to be abundantly gracious givers.

            We said in the Call to Worship: Teach us to follow you in extravagant generosity. I trust we meant that. So, who taught you generosity? My teacher has been Scripture interpreted to me by my wife. Jennie’s out of town for a few weeks, so I can talk about her (in a good way!) and tell you that when we were dating and getting serious and telling each other our values, she said, “Being generous is important to me and one way I want us to be generous is by tithing – giving God the first fruits of our income – ten percent.  Most of that 10% we’ll give to God and others through the churches we serve and the rest to other causes that extend God’s purposes in this world.” My life has been so enriched by giving. Who have your teachers of generosity been and how are you generous in specific ways, including the way that is making a regular offering to God through the ministries of Broadway?     

            Speaking of teaching us how to be generous and live out of an abundance mindset, Paul said to the Corinthians, “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly … and your great generosity… will produce thanksgiving to God through you.” (2 Corinthians 9:8).  He also wrote, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). The Greek word translated cheerful is hilaros from which we get our word hilarious. An elder in my Arizona church told me a story about a sermon he heard once.  After the pastor expounded upon cheerful giving, the offering plates were passed. As the plate reached a man who was known as a curmudgeon but loved nonetheless, he dropped in his envelope, threw up his arms, and shouted, “Woo hoo!”

            Jesus is right, you know. There is something beautiful about generosity. I was thinking about that perfume the woman poured over Jesus’ head and I imagined the fragrance that must have filled the place and wafted out into the streets. Passersby oblivious to what had happened would have caught a whiff and been brought up short in their tracks.

            “What’s that smell?” 

            “I don’t know.  It’s something beautiful, though.”

            It is beautiful.  It’s called generosity.

            Lord, teach us to follow you in extravagant generosity.

            Woo hoo! and AMEN.

[1]Anna Carter Florence, “Smashing Beauty,” Journal for Preachers, Pentecost, 2004.