Lent Week 5 - Abundance

by The Moderator, Rev Bruce Moore

When was the last time you did something for someone else without any expectations of getting something back in return? Have you ever received a gift and felt obligated to return the favour, or at least sent a thank-you note? Even the best-intentioned gifts can leave the other person with feelings of guilt.

On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, we read from the Gospel according to John and hear the story of Jesus sharing a meal with his good friends (Mary, Martha, and Lazarus) and his disciples. In this story John tells us how Jesus came to Bethany and stayed at the home of Lazarus. This was not that long after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. So, of course, Jesus’s friends are delighted to host him for dinner. Can you imagine how awkward the dinner must have been? Certainly, they are all overjoyed to have Lazarus back, but we should remember that he had been in a tomb just a few days before. Now he’s with them at dinner!  This is crazy and almost beyond belief.

Mary is filled with gratitude to have her brother back. She is indebted and loves Jesus so much that she must express it in some crazy way. So, she takes some perfume that she has had stashed away that was the most valuable thing she owned. Without any explanation, she uses it all to anoint the feet of Jesus with her hair. John tells us that its value is equal to a year’s worth of wages. Everyone knew it had to be good because the whole house was filled with the beautiful fragrance.

This is a story of abundance.  It is a bewildering, extravagant and crazy act of love.  This was no ordinary gesture. It was a heartfelt, sacrificial, profound declaration of love and a deep act of gratitude.

When it comes to love, how much is too much?  Should we draw lines or place limits on love?  Everything we know from scripture assures us that, for God, there can be no measure of how much God loves us. Jesus’ sacrifice of himself, which is foretold in this story of Mary’s anointing, is the ultimate expression of such exuberant and extravagant love.

Mary offered up to Jesus all that she had and did not hold back even though she was subjected to criticism about her thoughtless waste of something so valuable.

How often do we hold back, measuring our giving in terms of what it will cost us rather than pouring out our best in faith and gratitude?  Do we give of ourselves to God without restraint, all that we have and all that we are?

Abundance is not meant to be hoarded but shared. Every act of giving, whether big or small, mirrors the love and generosity of all that God gave up for us in the giving of his son Jesus.  The apostle Paul wrote “that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love” (Rom 8:38-39). God’s desire for all of us is that we might know and experience his deep love for us, that we might be transformed and renewed in him.

As we take time out in prayer and reflection during this period of Lent and as we commence these 40 Days of Prayer in preparation for our 38^th Synod Meeting it is my prayer that you will know, experience for yourself and be transformed by the extravagant love of God.  May your life be renewed afresh by the Spirit and may our church experience and reflect God’s unlimited love for all people.

I am getting a sense that God’s extravagant love might lead us to do something so unexpected, so out of the ordinary, that our friends, and yes even our neighbourhoods and community, will think we’ve gone crazy… crazy with love!

Reflection Questions

When was the last time you did something for someone else without any expectations of getting something back in return?

How do you think you would have reacted if you’d witnessed Mary’s outpouring of abundance?

“Abundance is not meant to be hoarded but shared”  When have you shared your abundance?  When might you have hoarded your abundance?

How have you experienced the extravagant love of God?  How might you share that love with others in your neighbourhood and community?