It is better to give than to receive? Shenanigans.
“6 Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. 8But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, ‘Why this waste? 9For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.’ 10But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. 11For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. 13Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’”
How can Jesus be a generous guy and then say it is okay for this woman to pour expensive oil on his head when it could have been sold and proceeds given to the poor? That does not sound very generous at all.
And yet this story may be one of the great stories of Jesus teaching about true generosity in any Gospel.
It is worth noting that generosity is often understood as when we give. We talk about being generous givers of which we generally are good at especially this time of year. But there is also the idea of being a generous receiver.
We tend to think that it is better to give than to receive, however it really is just as important to be able to give as it is to receive.
If we cannot receive something from another person, if we think we don’t need anything from anyone, if we are uncomfortable when someone gives us something and we don’t have anything to give back to them - then we are not very generous receivers.
Giving is an act of grace and receiving is an act of humility. It is humbling when someone gives us a gift is it not? We have been conditioned to think that we are not worthy of receiving gifts. We say things like, “I don’t need anything.” or “You really shouldn’t have.”
We say things like this, I think, in part because we don’t want to feel that humbling feeling we have when we know that someone went out of their way, used their resources, in order to give us a gift to say, “I was thinking about you and I wanted to give this to you and say I love you.” It is humbling when someone looks you in the eyes and shows you that they love you.
In the story of the woman anointing Jesus we get Jesus teaching his disciples both how to give and receive generously.
First, when Jesus says “For you will always have the poor with you.” He is alluding to Deuteronomy 15 - specifically the verses where God commands the people how to give generously:
Deuteronomy 15:7-11
7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbour.8You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbour with hostility and give nothing; your neighbour might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land.’
When Jesus says, “For the poor will always be with you” he is using one line to invoke the entire teaching. It is like if I say, “she was a Good Samaritan”. If you know the parable of the Good Samaritan then you know what I mean. Through didactic teaching Jesus is articulating how to be a generous giver.
But like I said, it really is just as important to be able to give as it is to receive. And Jesus was a generous receiver.
Jesus does not turn the gift away. He does not say to the woman, “Hey, I am the Son of God, I don’t need anything.” or “You shouldn’t have. I did not get you anything.”
No.
Jesus recognizes that this woman went out of her way, used her resources, in order to give him a gift to say, “I was thinking about you and I wanted to give this to you and say I love you.”
It is humbling when someone looks you in the eyes and shows you that they love you.
Because it is just as important to be able to give as it is to receive.
Cross Eyed Christianity
Recently I was reminded of this little story from Zen Buddhism:
A young, but earnest Zen student approached his teacher, and asked the Master, “If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, “Ten years . .”
The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast — How long then?”
Replied the Master, “Well, twenty years.”
“But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?” asked the student.
“Thirty years,” replied the Master.
“But, I do not understand,” said the disappointed student. “At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?”
Replied the Master, “When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path.”
Christians have had an unfortunate recent history of being people with one eye on the goal. Meaning that many people have encountered Christianity as a religion that teaches "how to get to heaven". We even have it down to a formula - you are sinner + God cannot be in the presence of sin - repent of your sin + accept Jesus = heaven.
Frankly it is kinda messed up. Perhaps one of the reasons that many Christians think the world is headed in the wrong direction is because we do not have both out eyes on the world at hand. We have one eye on heaven and one eye on earth. We are cross eyed.
If we hold to what Jesus says in John 14:6*, "I am the Way..." then we have to keep both eyes on the Way.
I have had a few conversations with marathon runners over the past several months. Mostly to figure out why anyone would want to run a marathon, but in the conversations I heard several runners tell me a trick to running a marathon. Since the marathon is so long and you cannot see the finish line, the best way to keep your spirit up while you run that distance is to look 5-8 feet in front of you.
You see, runners get it. They keep both eyes on the Way they are going. They do not keep one eye out looking for the finish line. They trust the path that has been laid out for them will take them to the destination - even if they cannot see the destination.
We say Jesus is the forerunner of the faith. Jesus says he is the Way. As followers of the Way of Jesus, let us trust in the Way that is before us. Let us keep both eyes on the Christ and trust he will lead us to the destination.
*If you are thinking, Jason, aren't you taking that text out of context? Probably, but this text is always taken out of context. If it can be taken out of context to condemn others, then I don't have a problem taking it out of context to critique my own religious tradition.
My generation's "Obamacare"
It has been said that Obamacare (The Affordable Healthcare Act) is the defining legislation. It is, for right or wrong, the bill that will define his legacy as President and perhaps even the entire decade in American politics.
It seems that the history makers of the world have an issue that defines them for a period of time. Obama and health care, Red Sox and the "curse of the Bambino", Romo and "choking", Pollock and abstract expressionism, or Steve Urkel and his line.
Beyond the history-making people, even the common person has their "defining issue". The reason they are called "Hot Button issues" is because these are issues that a number of people have made into their "defining issue".
And so, it is my prayer that the "defining issue" of my generation would be income inequality.
Here are a few TED Talks that approach this subject in different ways:
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.