During Holy Week (the week before Easter), my Bible-reading plan includes several passages about the events leading up to Jesus's death and Resurrection.
Today's reading is from John 12, and given that I spend most of my work time focused on money matters, I was struck by the financial references in the passage.
Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.
Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.
Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
Mary (the sister of Martha and Lazarus) freely poured out her expensive ointment on Jesus's feet, heedless of the cost, while Judas Iscariot complained (hypocritically) that it was a costly waste. The detail about his regular thievery suggests that if the perfume had been sold — ostensibly for the poor — much of the revenue would have ended up in his own pocket.
For Judas, money was apparently life's most important thing. Indeed, a few days after the incident described above, he would betray Jesus in exchange for 30 pieces of silver.
Sadly, Judas's love of money destroyed him, while Mary's generosity, inspired by her great love for Jesus, continues to bear fruit.
Money reveals our hearts
As with all of Scripture, many truths can be gleaned from the John 12 account. But a passage from Ron Blue's 2004 book, The New Master Your Money, came to mind. (Ron uses the word "checkbook" in this passage, but we could substitute "attitude toward material things.")
You can’t fake stewardship. Your checkbook reveals all that you really believe about stewardship. Your life story could be written from your checkbook. It reflects your goals, priorities, convictions, relationships, and even the use of your time.
A person who has been a Christian for even a short time can fake prayer, Bible study, evangelism, and going to church, but he can't fake what his checkbook reveals.
I also thought of a book Howard Dayton often mentioned, titled Money: The Acid Test, written in 1918. Author David McConaughy writes:
Our Lord takes money and he makes it a touchstone to test the lives of men and an instrument for molding them into [the] likeness of himself.
An ongoing test
The "acid test" presented to us by money and material things isn't a one-time test. It is an ongoing and repeated test. Will we be outward-looking or self-focused? Generous or stingy? In love with Jesus or in love with material things?
Money is indeed a touchstone that the Lord uses to test our hearts. Then, as we give ourselves to him in love, it becomes an instrument he uses to mold us into his likeness.
