The Offering

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Good morning Chapel family. I want to thank Pastor Paul for his pastoral prayer this morning. There are a lot of problems in our world and in our country—whether it’s shootings, or the crisis at our southern border, or this heartbreaking rise in violence against Asian-Americans. And it’s just a reminder to me that this world desperately needs Jesus. Because these are not problems that can be truly fixed by politicians. We need hearts to change, and that only happens by the power of Christ. So let’s keep praying for our country; let’s keep pointing people to Jesus. Amen?

So today is the sixth and final Sunday of Lent. Which means, of course, that Easter is next Sunday. I cannot wait. It also means that Good Friday is coming up this Friday, and I’m really looking forward to our gathering—6:30 on Friday; you can come in-person or online. You know, Easter is all about celebration and joy; Good Friday is all about feeling the weight and the suffering of what happened at the cross. So the service will be very reflective; we’re going to leave some space for quiet and contemplation; we’ll be sharing in communion together—so if you’re at home make sure you have some bread and juice or wine. I think it’s going to be a very powerful service.

So we’ve been taking the season of Lent to focus on the cross. And we’ve been saying that the cross isn’t just the way that Jesus died; it also describes the way that he lived. So throughout his life, Jesus was consistently dying to himself; giving up his rights; pouring himself out for the good of others. And as his followers, he invites us to live in that same kind of cross-shaped kind of way. So every week we’ve been reflecting on the example of Jesus, and then we’re trying to hear God’s invitation to repent—which means to turn around and head in a new direction—a more Jesus-like direction. So reflection and repentance has been the pattern we’re following.

So today, we’re going to reflect on one more event from Jesus’ life. In this scene, something happens to Jesus, and his disciples respond in a certain way—they have a definite opinion on what just happened. And Jesus has to rebuke his disciples—he calls them to change their opinion—in other words, to repent and start thinking differently. And I think you might find this surprising, because the thing he calls them to repent about, is how they view extravagance. Extravagance. What does that mean? Let me give you two dictionary definitions of extravagant:

Here’s the first one: lacking restraint in spending money or using resources.

Here’s one more definition: exceeding what is reasonable or appropriate.

Are you getting the feel for what it means? “I went to this wedding, and the food at the cocktail hour was so extravagant, I wasn’t even hungry for dinner.” “The mission team from The Chapel showed up in Bogotá, and the local church gave us an extravagant welcome with Colombian food and music and dancing.” Both of those examples are true, by the way.

So extravagance means over-the-top, above and beyond, more than necessary, lavish excess. And Jesus had to change the way his disciples thought about extravagance. So let’s read today’s passage—Matthew 26, verses 6 through 13. I invite you to hear the Word of God…

6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” This is the Word of the Lord.

So let’s talk about three things today: Why We Resist Extravagance, Why We Need Extravagance, and The Most Important Kind of Extravagance. Okay? Why we resist it, why we need it, and the most important kind of extravagance.

So, first: Why We Resist Extravagance. Today we’re observing Palm Sunday, which is the day Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, for that final week leading up to the cross. And this incident with the woman and the perfume took place the night before—the Saturday night before Palm Sunday. So Jesus and his disciples are gathered at the home of a guy called “Simon the Leper.” This is probably a guy that Jesus has healed, because if he still had leprosy, he would not be hosting people in his home for dinner. But apparently people were used to calling him “Simon the Leper,” and the nickname stuck.

So they’re at Simon’s house having dinner; everyone’s reclining around the table, and a woman approaches Jesus with this container of very expensive perfume. To us, this sounds really strange. Because when we have people over to our house, we don’t break out the cologne. Can you imagine, sneaking up behind your guest, and squirting them with a little Chanel No. 5, or some Polo by Ralph Lauren? If your guest is a middle-school kid, you spray him with some Ax. “Welcome to my home.” We wouldn’t do that. But in that culture, it wasn’t that strange. In first century Jewish culture, when you entered someone’s home, the host would often give you some fragrant oil that you could put in your hair or soften your hands. That was considered good hospitality.

But what this woman did went beyond typical hospitality. What this woman did was…what’s the word? Extravagant. Because, first of all, this was not typical perfumed oil. It says it was an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. This event is actually included in two other Gospels, besides Matthew. And in Mark and John, we find out it was “pure nard.” Nard is an oil extracted from the roots of the nard or spikenard plant, which grows in India. So this wasn’t your everyday stuff. This was not the stuff you get at CVS. This is, like, behind the counter at Nieman-Marcus kind of stuff.

But it was also extravagant because of the way she used it. In Mark’s version, which is in Mark chapter 14, it says she “broke the jar.” So she didn’t just delicately put a couple of dabs on him; she cracked the whole jar open! And it says in John that it was about a pint of pure nard. That’s a lot of nard! That’s sixteen ounces! Two cups! Of high-end, rare, imported-from-India, expensive perfume! And she poured it on his head, and John tells us she also poured some on his feet, and the house was filled with the beautiful fragrance of the perfume.

And when the disciples of Jesus saw what was happening, verse 8 says they were indignant. “Why this waste?” What she did seemed impulsive and reckless and just foolish. It seemed like really poor stewardship of a valuable resource. In fact, look what the disciples said next—verse 9: “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” In Mark it says the perfume could have been sold for more than a year’s wages. Whoa. That’s a lot of poor people you could help! So they were indignant with this woman.

By the way—this is just a side point—but isn’t it easy for us to criticize the way other people worship God? We see the way someone else expresses their love and their devotion to God, and we go, “That’s not the way to do it.” Romans 14 says be really careful about judging someone else’s servant. Right? Let God be the judge.

But back to the main point: the woman is expressing her love for Jesus in a way that’s definitely extravagant, and the disciples are indignant. Mark tells us that the disciples rebuked her sharply: “Shame on you for this waste!”

Try to put yourself in the shoes of the disciples. If you were there, and you saw this happening, how would you have responded? If I’m totally honest, if I were there, I think I would have responded exactly like the disciples did. Because, for example, when I read the book of Proverbs, it tells us to live with moderation and discretion. All through the Bible, it teaches us to use what we have to help the poor. So I would have been right there with the disciples, feeling indignant toward this woman: “how could you?” How about you? Anybody with me on this? Don’t leave me hanging here. Be honest! I think most of us would have joined the disciples. After all, they were just being sensible and prudent and responsible. Isn’t that how God wants us to live?

Point number 2: Why We Need Extravagance. Up to this point Jesus has remained silent. But in verse 10 he speaks: Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. Jesus actually defends the woman! And he says what she did—pouring all the perfume on him—was a beautiful thing! Why? I’m going to give you two words that explain why.

The first word is love. When you love someone, it is appropriate and good to sometimes express your love in extravagant ways. If you have ever been in love with another person, you know exactly what I mean. When I was sixteen years old, I fell in love with the woman who is now my wife. And I’m a little bit embarrassed to say this, but I used to write her poetry. It was really bad poetry. I’m not just saying that to be humble—it was bad. It was really cheesy. She saved all of them—she has boxes of them somewhere hidden away, and I really hope no one finds them and reads them. But here’s the point: there was no practical purpose for those poems; I could have used that time that I was writing poetry for much more practical things. But I loved her.

What about giving flowers? What a waste, right? You spend twenty, thirty dollars on a bouquet of flowers, and 3 days later, the petals are falling off and you have to throw them away! Completely impractical! Mother’s Day is coming up, so this Mother’s Day, say to your mom, “I was going to get you flowers, but I realized it’s such a waste of money, so Happy Mother’s Day.” How about jewelry? Same thing! Why spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to give your girlfriend or your wife a necklace or a pair of earrings? Total waste! How about spending time and money to compose music or to create other kinds of art? Totally extravagant, right? Waste of time and money.

But aren’t those the kinds of things you do to express your love for someone? I mean, not every day; that’s called bankruptcy. But if you love someone and you never do extravagant things, there’s something missing. The woman in this passage was so filled with love for Jesus, and the perfume was a way to express that. Jesus said it was beautiful. Because extravagance is an expression of love.

Let me give you one more word. Extravagance is also an expression of gratitude. There’s a similar story to this one that’s recorded in Luke chapter 7. There’s some debate among Bible scholars about whether it’s the same event as the one we’re looking at today. I think it’s probably the same event. And in Luke 7, it says the woman with the perfume had lived a sinful life—it’s probably referring to her sexually promiscuous past. And yet now she had met Jesus! So she now had forgiveness and dignity and hope for her future. And she was so grateful for all of that, it says she poured perfume

on him, and she was weeping, and she dried the feet of Jesus with her hair. Because sometimes the only way to really express your gratitude is with an act of extravagance.

In last week’s sermon I mentioned a couple of movies. And after the service, Brandon, our Tech Director, came up to me and he gave me a hard time. He said, “I looked up those movies you mentioned—they were like thirty years old! We have to introduce you to some newer movies!” So today I’m really going to freak out Brandon. Because I want to tell you about a movie that’s about 35 years old. It’s called Babette’s Feast. It actually won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. I have to tell you about this movie.

It takes place in the 1800s, in a remote coastal town in Denmark. Living together in that village are two elderly sisters—neither of them married; both of them very pious in their Protestant faith. In fact, their father was a pastor who had started his own church—a very strict, legalistic church. But their father is now dead, and the church is dwindling. One day, a young woman named Babette appears at their door. She’s a refugee from the revolution in Paris, and she’s hoping to work for the sisters as a housekeeper. So for the next fourteen years, she lives with them and serves as their cook. Her only link to her former life in Paris is this lottery ticket that her friend back in Paris renews for her every year. And one day, Babette hits the jackpot. She wins 10,000 francs, which was a lot of money. But instead of using the money to immediately return to Paris and resume her life, she says, “Hey, there’s a special occasion coming up. The 100th birthday of your deceased father. I want to stay and prepare a special feast for the occasion. A real French dinner.” The sisters accept her offer.

So Babette arranges for her nephew to go to Paris and start gathering the supplies for the feast. And then the ingredients start to arrive on ships, and they get brought to their little village. There’s caviar and foie gras and quail and truffles and champagne and fine wine. I mean it’s unheard of and exotic and…what’s that word again? Extravagant. And the sisters start to worry that eating this food could be a sin! So they agree they’ll eat it, but they won’t speak of any pleasure in eating it.

So the night of the feast arrives, and twelve people gather around the table. And the food is just as amazing as you would think. So the church members don’t comment on the food, but it seems like Babette’s gift creates a spirit of affection and love between the people. There’s laughter and forgiveness and this beautiful moment of community. So after the meal, the sisters assume that now Babette will return to Paris. But she tells them that she can’t, because she spent all her money—all 10,000 francs—on the meal. It turns out that Babette’s extravagant gift was more than just a meal; it was a way for her to express her gratitude to these two sisters who took her in when she had nothing. And even though I just told you the whole story, it’s still worth it for you to see it, just to see the food. I think Brandon would love it too.

Look: when we truly love, and when we are deeply grateful, sometimes the most beautiful way to express that is through extravagance. But it’s over the top! It’s not reasonable! Sometimes that’s okay.

Now: if we really want to get this right, we have to think about this last point together. So let’s talk about The Most Important Kind of Extravagance. Can I tell you a wrong way to apply all of this? Here’s the wrong way: Since Jesus commended the woman for pouring out the expensive perfume on him, Jesus would commend me if I buy myself this expensive boat. That’s not how to apply this. I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy the expensive boat; I’m just saying this passage isn’t teaching that. It’s not giving us permission to be extravagant on ourselves. In fact, the woman is actually sacrificing what she has—she’s giving up something so that she can express her love and her gratitude toward

Jesus. So I believe this passage shows that there are times to be extravagant toward others because of the love and the gratitude we have for them.

But that principle is especially true in our relationship with God. The most important person for you to be extravagant toward is God. Why? You ready? Because God is extravagantly good to us.

Do you know that we follow a God of extravagant love? He didn’t have to make all those colors! He didn’t have to make all those flavors! Last week, Norma Jean made me tender chicken filets with sautéed peppers and mushrooms, all simmering in garlic and butter. Oh yeah. God didn’t have to create all those flavors! He could have just made us survive on eating grass. He’s extravagant! God didn’t have to make flowers come up in the spring, or make the earth smell the way it smells after it rains in the springtime—you know what smell? He didn’t have to make all those stars in the sky, or position the clouds like a pallet for the sun to paint on when it rises and sets.

If you think God is all business and all pragmatic, just look out the window! Remember our first definition of “extravagant?” Lacking restraint in spending or using resources. It seems to me that when God created this universe, he lacked all restraint. He cracked open the jar and just poured out all the good stuff. Way more than we need. Above and beyond. God is extravagant toward us. So doesn’t it make sense that we would be extravagant toward him?

But you know where God’s extravagance is seen most awesomely? It’s what this passage is all about. Look what Jesus says in verse 12: When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Wow. Do you think she knew that? When she was cracking open the jar and pouring the perfume on Jesus, was she thinking, “I’m now anointing the body of Jesus for his burial”? I don’t think so. I don’t think she knew that. But Jesus knew. And by speaking those words, Jesus made sure everyone in the room knew. He wanted everyone to know that she had done a beautiful thing, and the deepest reason it was so beautiful is that it was preparing Jesus to give up his life and be buried for the sins of the world.

See this whole scene is clearly pointing to the death of Jesus. And let me tell you something: when Jesus went to the cross and lay down his life for us, love doesn’t get any more extravagant than that. Amen? I mean, you want to see extravagance? You want to see someone go above and beyond, all-in, lacking all restraint, busting the jar, pouring it all out? Look at my Savior on the cross. Look at your Savior on the cross. That’s extravagance.

So when we respond to that kind of love, doesn’t it make sense that at times, we do it kind of extravagantly?

So here’s what I’m saying—let’s look at our cross diagram. By reflecting on this scene from the life of Jesus, God is calling us to repent from being sensible (or you could use the word “reserved” or “pragmatic”)…from that to extravagant. From sensible to extravagant.

So what does that look like? How do we live this out? Let me give you three pictures of how this could look.

First, extravagant worship. This is really a scene of worship, isn’t it? When she pours out her perfume on Jesus, she’s worshiping him—she’s saying, “Jesus, you are worthy (because worship is about worth-ship, right?)…you are worthy of the best that I have to offer.” So because of God’s extravagant love toward us, we should worship him extravagantly. We should show up for church knowing that the musical worship part of church is so important. Sometimes I hear people say, “The reason we worship in church to get our hearts ready to hear the sermon.” No! I mean, yes—that. But it’s not just that! Even if there were no sermon—even if there were no pragmatic purpose at

all—worship would still be incredibly valuable! Just like I wrote all those poems to my girlfriend with no pragmatic purpose at all—just to express my love for her. And worship is just expressing our love for God. He’s worth it.

So worship extravagantly. I don’t know what that means for you. For some of you it means raising your hands into the air to exalt God. For some of you it means closing your eyes to really focus on the words. And it’s not just in church! I know people who listen to worship music every morning when they wake up. They just lay there in bed, and close their eyes and they make that their first act of the day—before they even get out of bed. What an incredible way to start your day!

So think about the woman pouring out her perfume, and ask yourself, “How can I worship God extravagantly this week?”

Second, extravagant generosity. This is also a scene of generosity, isn’t it? Just like Babette in the movie gave up something really valuable to show her gratitude, the woman gave up this valuable perfume for Jesus. You know, the prosperity gospel says, “Give generously to God, and God will make you rich.” The real gospel says, “Give generously to God, because he already has made you rich.” Look what he’s done for you on the cross; look at his extravagant goodness to you; and let that make you a generous person.

Very often, when Norma Jean and I are out to eat, let’s say the bill is $20, so a good tip would be $5, right? That’s 25%. And Norma Jean will say, “Give her a $10.” And I’ll go, “Ten bucks? On a $20 check? That’s a little much!” And she’ll say, “Okay—whatever you want.” She knows exactly how to play me. And I’ll go, “Oh—okay.” And I leave the ten. My wife is an extravagant person. And I always walk out of the restaurant feeling really good, because generosity makes you feel really good.

And then, finally, extravagant living. If it’s really true that we follow an extravagant God, who gives us way more than we deserve, and who showed his extravagance most beautifully at the cross—if that’s the God we follow, shouldn’t we pour out our whole lives, like the woman poured out that perfume? Shouldn’t we give him the best of who we are? And that’s going to mean something different for all of us. But whatever God has called you to do, what would it look like to make that an offering of worship to God?

For many years, I have admired an artist named Makoto Fujimura. He was born in the U.S. in 1960 to Japanese parents, and he realized early on that he had a tremendous gift for art. While he was in school, he had a spiritual hunger that he didn’t know what to do with, and it was actually while he was studying for his master’s degree in Tokyo that he became a believer in Christ. So he has become a highly renowned artist; his work’s been displayed in the best galleries; he’s lectured all over the world; and his main topic is how art and faith fit together. And I love this simple quote. He said, “I consider my life and my art to be an offering to worship our Living God.” Isn’t that a great quote?

Because this is not just for artists. If you are a teacher, wouldn’t it be amazing to say, “I consider my life and my teaching to be an offering to worship our Living God.” “I consider my life and my research to be an offering to worship our Living God.” “I consider my accounting…my diaper-changing…my cashiering…my engineering…my investing…my Uber-driving…whatever God has called me to at this moment in my life, I’m going to do it extravagantly. I’m going to bust open the jar and pour out the best I have, because my God has been so extravagant with me.