In his congregation of farmers, he had many who were great at telling tales about how poor they were, but he also had a guy in the congregation who was hinting, loudly, that the Session should listen to him about what decisions to make because of all the money he was able to give to the church. One of these times that the man was trying to get something that he wanted, Bob took him out to lunch to talk. As the man started lobbying his case, Bob looked right at him and said, “You know what I make, and I give more money to the church than you do. You only give $4,000 a year to the church you stingy jerk.”

Well, this is one of those times as a new pastor that you begin quickly to write your resume in your head. But Bob got lucky, the man reared back in his seat and laughed. “You’re absolutely right,” he said, “I am a stingy jerk!”

The following week, the man came up to Bob and confessed, “Now I give more than you do. I’m pledging $5,000 this year.” In Bob’s estimation, this man still probably wasn’t giving up to his potential, but the conversation ended up making a difference.

As a group of pastors and elders sitting and hearing that story, we laughed – but we laughed nervously. We knew how it could have turned out, and many of the ways it could have turned out would have been disastrous. But God only knows Jesus finds ways, through a pastor, through a friend, through an incident or accident, to point out when we are clenching our fists too tightly. Jesus won’t let us get away with it forever. He knows when our hands have been in the community purse, and he knows when we our flow of generosity is jammed and we have developed arteriosclerosis of the pocketbook. One can’t steal from God for too long without getting caught!

This is also the case with Judas Iscariot in our text for today. Judas tries to hide his own stealing and hoarding by turning his attention to Mary’s extravagance. It was a serious bait and switch. So they wouldn’t notice his hand in the common purse, he raises a stink about all the money that could have gone to the poor had she done something different with her gift rather than pour it all over Jesus’ feet.

But on the other hand Mary’s hands and heart were open. She realized the amazing gift of Jesus in her life and couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with gratitude. She took a very large amount of money, probably all her savings – more than would be an easy gift – and showered this extravagance on Jesus. When our hearts are open, sacrifice like that is an opportunity, a blessing, a joy, and it really doesn’t seem that hard to let go.

Jesus may not be making any grand statements here as in “do this” or “don’t do that,” but in the way he reacts to these two very close friends and companions, he shows us what’s important. Our sense of generosity is of great importance. In fact it may be a window for Jesus to see into our hearts. It matters not just what we give, but how we feel about giving it. We can wave our hands loudly and talk about how important it is to give to the poor, but if we’re doing that for show, and not out of gratitude for all that God has done in our lives, somehow we’ve missed the point.

Jesus holds up some pretty amazing examples for us when he is trying to help us understand how to be giving. His examples are not the typical people we recognize as important philanthropists. Although their giving is also important to many, he doesn’t hold up the extremely wealthy people who can afford to use their gifts to reward their pet projects and influence important work on a grand scale. He doesn’t hold up the person who has bought a Prius to save the environment. He doesn’t hold up the long time church member who has done everything for the church, always buying the things that they think the congregation needs. Instead, he acknowledges a woman who is his deep, deep friend who cashes in all her chips to show him great love. He points out the poor widow whose two coins mean more to her survival than the rich man’s treasure that could feed a dozen poor and homeless. He holds up his disciples who have walked away from secure lifestyles elsewhere, begging us as well, “Come and follow me.”

There’s no doubt in my mind that there are good people here doing good things for the church – but why do you do them? Do you long to follow Jesus? Would you sell a car or cash in stock to see him smile? Is your gift reflective of your gratitude? Are you driven by love as Mary was, or guilt as Judas was? Jesus isn’t looking at the bottom line of what we give or if we are supporting the right cause. He simply looks at our hands: his Marys live with open hands; his Judas’ have tightly clenched fists.

Try clenching your fists for a few seconds….. How does it feel? Pressured? Forced? Does it make your blood pressure rise? Those who hold on too tightly to things will never be secure, will never be satisfied. Judas could not get any satisfaction out of being right there with Jesus. He wanted control. He couldn’t simply rest in the presence of God. One of the handouts we got at the conference talked about pentamillionaires, people who had five million dollars or more of accumulated wealth. When asked the question, “What would it take to make you feel secure?” only 36% claimed to be secure already. The median amount they thought they needed to feel secure was $20 million, with the average amount being around $45 million. Think about that too for a second. Is security really bound up in having cash stashed away? What about the things that money cannot buy? The market has sold us a lie. Life insurance and retirement policies are handy tools, but nothing can replace the true loss of death, and one can have all the money in the world when they retire, but it doesn’t guarantee happiness.

Mary on the other hand, lived openly. Generosity flowed through her. She could laugh and cry and learn with Jesus without expecting a return on her investment. Try open hands for a few seconds….. How does this feel? Sometimes it’s uncomfortable, sometimes freeing. Mary’s security and trust were put in things not of this world. That’s how she could spend a fortune on some perfume. It wasn’t just the perfume that it was spent on though. Mary blew it all on an act of courage and love. She was willing to go bankrupt to follow her Lord all the way to the grave. Surprisingly, that’s where Jesus would have us go too. She is the example. We may be waiting in the wings with the other dumbfounded disciples who witness this triangle of exchange between Jesus and his two beloved friends. We may be stupefied as to what we could do in a situation like this. But we’ve got to come to the point where we see more Mary than Judas in ourselves. We’ve got to learn that more money and more stuff will not fill the deep longings of our hearts.

Jesus is calling us to do something that is difficult for most Presbyterian-type Christians. He’s calling us to live by our passions – which happened to be Rick Ufford-Chase’s mantra throughout the conference. We Presbyterians need to get our passion back. In this text and everywhere else she’s mentioned in scripture, Mary’s response to Jesus was full of passion and energy. She didn’t stop to think or calculate – she gave what she could give. We need to find ways of getting closer to that dangerous edge. The safe life is not a very Christian life. The “stingy jerk” life is certainly not the Christian life. Jesus praises boldness – even when it means that the money is spent on him rather than on the poor which he desperately, passionately loves himself.

My friends, it’s the Lenten season, a season most associate with the old rituals of giving up. The giving up of Lent is intended to be an acknowledgement of how Jesus gave up his life for us. Giving up our bad habits or chocolate cake won’t do. We need to really get serious and give up the things that prevent us from living with open, truly open hands and hearts. We can’t love Jesus if we have $5 million in our bank accounts and won’t be satisfied without $15 million more. We can’t love Jesus if we can’t tell our wants from our needs. Our culture is sickly clogged up with money we can’t let flow through our fingers and through our bank accounts. Let it go. Let it go here at church. Let it go in helping others. Let it go by giving someone a gift that will change their lives, but my friends, it is a spiritual imperative that we learn to let go. Holding on, dipping in the till, clenching tight will only line us up with a scoundrel like Judas. You may have been taught that living paycheck to paycheck was a recipe for disaster. My guess is that when we begin to trust Jesus, living in that insecurity will be the most freeing, securing, trusting, and loving thing we’ve ever done.

Amen.