This morning at Embry Hills, we bring to a conclusion what has been for me a meaningful journey through The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. Having considered Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, and Risk-Taking Mission and Service, we turn our attention today to the fruit of Extravagant Generosity. Now, I don’t think Bishop Schnase says so, but I think that the first and the last fruits in his book provide wonderful bookends to all the others. Perhaps it’s not a far cry to suggest that the entire goal of the Christian life can be summed up in those two fruits. Be nice to and welcome everyone, and be generous in an extravagant and lavish way. And so, this morning, we ponder what it means to be extravagantly generous, and we turn to this familiar story in Matthew’s Gospel. Of course, we could have turned almost anywhere in the Bible. As Bishop Schnase notes, every Scriptural example of generosity manifests extravagance in some way, but I especially like the story we’ve just heard.

Now, a quick word about this story. Every one of the four Gospels contains a story about a woman washing Jesus’ feet. In Matthew, Mark, and John, the story is connected to the impending death of Jesus. In Matthew, it’s an unnamed woman, and it’s the disciples who object. More on that later. In Mark, it’s also an unnamed woman, and some unidentified people object. In John, it’s Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who spills out the expensive perfume, and it’s Judas who objects. In Luke, the story is not connected to Jesus’ death but to Jesus’ tendency to hang around with all the wrong people. It’s a woman from the city who takes to washing Jesus’ feet with her hair, and it’s the highly religious Pharisee who objects, since anyone claiming to be the Son of God ought to know not to hang around with people like her. It’s interesting that regardless of the exact nature of the story as it appears in each Gospel, the story of some woman interacting with Jesus in this way calls our attention to one of the bookend fruits—radical hospitality, as is the case in Luke, or extravagant generosity, as is the case in the others.

Well, as we heard from Matthew, Jesus is in the house of a man named Simon. It’s only a couple of days before Jesus will die, and as he’s breaking bread at the table, some woman takes a jar of very expensive ointment and pours it out on his head. And, the disciples were angry. And, they apparently make a pretty big fuss about what they regard as a pretty big waste. Now, let’s stop the action right there and dig for just a moment, before we even get to the topic of extravagant generosity.

I’ve been hearing sermons on this story all my life, and I’ve been preaching sermons on this story for 30 years. But, as I was pondering this story again this week, something occurred to me that for some reason I had never noticed before. You know how it is with the Bible; it’s such rich repository that new stuff can jump out at us all the time.

A woman, apparently without conversation with any of the disciples, approaches Jesus and does something that she obviously feels compelled to do. She takes the best that she has to offer him, and she pours it out on him and for him. What takes place is between the woman and Jesus. But, the disciples do two things that get them, and us, into spiritual hot water. Number one, they think that they have a dog in a race that does not concern them. And, number two, they make a big deal out of something that Jesus seems to think is not all that urgent a matter.

“This waste. This waste.” As this woman does what she does, it’s almost like the disciples appoint themselves as the waste police, looking for place to drop their penalty flag on someone who is violating what they consider to be the rule. But, the truth of the story is that they did not have a dog in the race. What happens in this story is between this woman and Jesus, and the disciples take their long noses and stick them where they simply do not belong. They stand in a place of inappropriate judgment on the decision of another person. Now, we don’t have time to go there today, because that’s not even the point of the sermon, but I do wonder how often we put our own noses in the business of another person and judge their relationship with Jesus based on what we think that relationship ought to look like.

And secondly, the disciples make a big fuss over something that Jesus says is not that big a deal. Matter of fact, it’s almost like the disciples expect Jesus to agree with them. It’s almost like the disciples expect Jesus to say, “Quick, get something to put this ointment back in the jar. We can’t waste good stuff like this.” But, not only does Jesus not agree, he says that the woman has done something that will be mentioned whenever his good news is told anywhere in the world. We don’t have time to go there, either, but I do wonder how often we try to make a big deal out of something that doesn’t mean that much to Jesus.

It’s sad but clear. In this story, the disciples are not in spiritual lock step with Jesus. They don’t see things like he sees them; they don’t get things like he gets them; they don’t respond to things like he responds. And, I hope that we his current disciples don’t make the same kind of mistakes that his first disciples did.

Well, pardon that digression. The woman takes a container of very expensive ointment and pours it on Jesus’ head. And, in her now-famous act, we see a blinding truth about giving.

Whenever we give, we give to him. Elsewhere in Matthew, Jesus says as much. When you visit sick people, you visit me. When you visit imprisoned people, you visit me. When you feed hungry people, you feed me. It is a fundamental Christian conviction that when we give, we give to Jesus. Sometimes, we forget that.

Sometimes, we think that when we’re giving, we’re giving to a budget or to an institution. When we give, we are really giving to Jesus, for the sake of his good work in the world, for the sake of those he has always tried to touch, for the sake of the love he has always wanted to share. When we give, we are really giving to Jesus, so that he can put our resources to good use in the work that he is doing in the world.

Two things I want you notice about her gift.

One, she did not consult, ask the opinion of, or be influenced by anything that the disciples thought, felt, said, or did. She did not poll the disciples to see if they thought what she was about to do was a good idea. She was apparently unmoved by any vibe she may have gotten or by any reaction she may have noticed. Which is a different way of saying that she gave her gift to Jesus based on her relationship with him and not based upon any other consideration.

I think that is a very crucial part of this story, for everyone, but especially for us here at Embry Hills. And, here’s what I mean by that. Most of you know that we’re at a critical time in our church’s life, and there’s lots of opinion on all of the why’s and wherefore’s of all of that. As you pray about your gift to Jesus, please contemplate a gift that you give without the influence of any consideration other than your relationship with him and what you would like to do for him. We don’t give because we like that pastor. We don’t fail to give because we don’t. We don’t give because of what other people think or are doing. We don’t fail to give even if we run the risk of the disapproval of others. Without regard to what the disciples thought, without regard to what they said, this woman gave her gift. She gave her gift based on her best attempt to live out of a faithful and close relationship to the One she regarded as her Lord.

Jesus is doing some very cool stuff at Embry Hills. He always has, and he always will. And, everyone here today loves Jesus and loves what he has been doing and what he will continue to do here. So, give your gift to him, without the influence of any other consideration. And, I promise that the gift that you give to him through the ministry of this church will be used to help other people because of him.

And, the other thing that leaps at us from this story is the opportunity that we have to give without counting the cost. That’s what makes giving extravagant. Of course, these are very challenging and uncertain economic times. And, everyone is nervous and unsettled and worried. We’ve all seen a good bit of what we’ve worked years to save go up in smoke in a matter of weeks. And, one response to that is to hunker down in despair and to count how many be-be’s we don’t have, and to fail to give because we are driven by an attitude of scarcity and fear. That’s not the only response available to us. It is possible, even in difficult times, for Jesus’ people to see the abundance with which we are blessed and to give a gift that makes no earthly sense to give, based on our confidence and hope in the promise and possibility of the future. I encourage each of you to ponder that kind of hope and confidence as you make your gift. I encourage each of you to give in joy and not out of fear. And, even as we seek to raise funds to do ministry here, it seems important for me to say that if you can’t give as much as you want, Jesus understands that, too. Had the woman poured out only part of that ointment, Jesus would have bragged on her still. All he wants is that we give him the best we have, that we make a gift to him that can be called extravagant. He will honor and use whatever we can do.