Photo by: Squacco
Our pastor used an unexpected and effective twist in his teaching yesterday.
He started out saying that, while reading the book, Radical, by author David Platt, he began thinking about how much money would be coming into the church this week in the form of engagement rings on the fingers of women of the church.
He said he got out a calculator and estimated a estimated value in the millions. Then he raised a “radical” question. What practical value is an engagement ring? What if all that money had been given instead to feed the poor?
Then our pastor began telling the story of the 12th chapter of the Gospel of John. He told what happened at a dinner given in Bethany in honor Jesus. As the guests sat around the table, a woman aroused the ire of one of the disciples by pouring out a bottle of expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus. An indignant Judas responded by insisting that the perfume should have been sold and the money used to feed the poor. Jesus, however, defended the woman’s outrageous expression of gratitude and love for him.
Without diminishing our responsibility to help feed and care for the poor, our pastor ended with a provocative question. He said he’s been wondering if there were things that we, as individuals (or as a church), could do that would be seen as of “no practical value” to ourselves, or to the church, except to show a deeply felt, outrageous, extreme, radical, expression of our gratitude and love for Christ.
My mind started going in several directions. I left wondering things like—what if clever billboards suddenly started showing up around town saying something provocative and subtle enough to get under people’s skin— and then into their hearts…maybe even something that alludes to the story we’ve been thinking about: The Teacher of Nazareth requests your presence at a dinner to be given in his honor. What if the identity of the individual or group that sponsored something like that remained a closely guarded secret?
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