ESSENCE OF GIVING

ESSENCE OF GIVING
By: Krinda Joy Carlson
Intern, Ceitci Demirkova Ministries

Food. Talk. Jokes. The group of men enjoyed the meal with a comradeship born from countless hours spent together. However, tonight, something was lingering in the air – a heaviness marked the movements of their leader. They went about the motions of chewing bread and drinking their wine as if everything was normal, but between bites, furtive glances were cast towards the man at the head of the table.
In the middle of a lapse in conversation, the door to the meeting room suddenly flung open. There stood a woman clothed in scarlet. All eyes stared. She moved silently, grimly towards their leader clutching an elaborate jar to her chest. As she halted before him, one of the men nearby seemed to snap from his stupor, preparing to remove her from their presence. His leader motioned that he be seated. The man questioned, “Jesus…?”
But his leader, Jesus, had his eyes focused upon the woman’s as she uncorked the bottle in her hands. She extended the jar. Halted. Looked imploringly at the man in front of her.
He simply nodded.
Without breaking eye contact, the woman poured the contents of the jar over the head of Jesus. The sweet, distinct smell of one of the most costly perfumes available began to fill the room. The liquid spilled down Jesus’ hair, dripped onto his clothes, and mixed with the tears now sliding down his cheeks. The woman, too, began to cry, and shared a special smile with the man in front of her. The rest of the men, however, started muttering amongst themselves, none-too subtly.
“This is ridiculous! What’s she thinking? Is she crazy?”
“That perfume costs a fortune! What a waste.”
“We could have sold that and used the money for something better!”
The woman hung her head. Doubts taking root in her heart, Maybe I am foolish.
His gaze with the woman broken, Jesus turned a stern eye on the others. “Why are you bothering this woman?” He asked. “She has done a beautiful thing to me…when she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told.” With that said, he reached out and embraced the woman, who then departed as silently as she came.
This time when the door shut, she stood outside it and hugged the bottle to herself with a smile. Though empty of perfume, it was full now of something better – a priceless memory of Jesus’ acceptance that would be a continual reservoir of sweet joy. (Matthew 26:6-13)

This true story takes place shortly before Jesus is arrested and sentenced to death on the cross. Although Jesus is preparing to give the most valuable gift mankind will ever experience – his life – he still calls this woman’s offering beautiful! Why? Because her gift captures the essence of giving.

The woman brings to Jesus what is costly to her, and she pours it all out for his sake. That’s what Jesus asks of us when we come to him and when we give to others. He asks us to give with all our heart, thus the deed that represented this essence of giving costs something of us. It is befriending the social misfit in the office, which costs us because it places us on the gossip-list of our coworkers; it is listening to our lonely aunt repeat the same story over and over that costs us our time; it is being the first to extend an apology, which costs us our pride; and it is embracing the dirty, smelly outcast, which costs us our comfort. True giving like this costs the pouring out of the “self” for another. As shown by the men in the story, people won’t always understand this kind of giving, they may even mock you. But you’re not doing it for them, you’re pouring your offering upon the head of Jesus…you’re doing it for Him. Like the woman who gave Jesus what was costly to her, Jesus is looking at us and nodding encouragement that we do the same. When we pour out of the part of our heart we clutch so tightly to, the offering is a sweet and beautiful perfume to Jesus.
Then, he smiles upon us.
He embraces us.
He fills the now emptied bottle of our offering…
with the joy of His love and acceptance. Now that’s priceless beyond measure.