October 18 2026
READINGS and MESSAGE
EXODUS 33: 12-23
In this passage Moses begs that he may see the glory of God, that he may have a convincing and satisfying vision of God…but, the full glory of the face of God is ever beyond the reach of human understanding… Moses may not see God’s face, but his goodness, his grace, his mercy, he may see and know…there will be a glimpse, but whose face is not revealed…this is a pretty explicit declaration of the incompleteness and limitations of human knowledge, even of those who may be truly inspired…
1 THESSALONIANS 1: 1-10
This passage from Thessalonians is an example of one of Paul’s handwritten words of greeting to the church in Thessalonica and it’s drafted to offer a thanksgiving. A spirit of thanksgiving can motivate us as believers to be more intentional and thoughtful in all the ways we communicate with each other…I sense that a spirit of thanksgiving can motivate us toward greater communal intimacy and possibly motivate us to forgive and to seek forgiveness…and I echo Paul’s words this morning, “I always give thanks to God for all of you!!”
MATTHEW 22: 15-22
What’s really interesting about this passage of Matthew is that it deals in politics and religion which I shy away from, but here it is…we have the Pharisees and the Herodians confronting Jesus about taxes…the Herodians were allied with Herod Antipas, who had been named king of the Jews by Rome so they supported paying taxes to Caesar…on the other side were the Pharisees who were totally committed to Jewish law and they opposed taxes to Caesar for religious reasons, producing a graven image which was on the coin…the Pharisees hoped that Jesus would support paying taxes to Caesar so the Jewish people would see him as a sympathizer…and the Herodians hoped Jesus would oppose paying taxes so that they accuse him of treason against Rome…and verse 21 says it all…
A TRUE GIFT CANNOT BE CONTROLLED
You know folks; nothing will begin a conversation like an extravagant gift which has been given…and for the minister who has spent time in countless church meetings there would be plenty of tales to tell of this sort of thing…if the church treasurer for instance, announces a big donation, quite often the atmosphere in the room will change…in fact, suspicions may even form about the donor’s reasons…the gift may come with strings attached as someone uses extravagance as a way to peddle influence…even more controversial by-the-way, is the abundant gift with no strings attached…not only will the gift spark debate over its use, but it may reveal the otherwise hidden priorities of those who make the decisions…and this is why I put my message title as “A True Gift Cannot be Controlled”…and here’s an incident shared from a certain William Carter who was the pastor of a First Presbyterian Church in the States…he would never forget the uproar sparked at a stewardship conference in which an ecumenical group of pastors gathered to discuss generosity…one presenter spoke about offering a gift directly to God and the clergy began to yawn…then he pulled a $100 bill from his wallet, set it on fire in an ashtray, and prayed, “Lord, I offer this gift to you, and you alone.”…
The reaction was electric!...clergy began to fidget in their seats, watching the greenback go up in smoke as if it were perfume…one whispered, “It’s illegal to burn currency”…another was heard to murmur, “if he has money to give away, perhaps he has a few more.”… there was nervous laughter in the room…
“Do you not understand?” asked the preacher. “I am offering it to God, and that means it is going to cease to be useful for the rest of us.”… it was an anxious moment…and I go back to the title of this message, a true gift cannot be controlled…and folks, we have certainly developed utilitarian approaches to giving…some church members may prefer to earmark their contributions…major donors may give for the impact of the gift, the name recognition on the plaque, or possibly the sizeable tax deduction…congregations can designate their benevolences, but a true gift cannot be controlled…a woman named Mary wasted perfume on Jesus…and because of the literary context of Jesus raising her brother Lazarus, we can surmise that she felt gratitude…deep gratitude…and Jesus is, in turn, gracious enough to receive it with gratitude…and lots of extravagant gifts are put into the air, where they soon evaporate, and we know this…a choir, for instance, could spend hours and hours and hours working on a piece and in three minutes, it’s gone…a teacher spends hours in preparation for the lesson, stands to deliver it and before you know it, the bell rings and it’s over…countless arrangements of flowers are given at funerals and in a week or so, they’ve shriveled up…and saints donate large amounts of money for their congregations to spend…why do they do this?...Love has its reasons….
And as John states, Jesus is the one through whom everything was made…there is abundance wherever he is present…180 gallons of wine are produced - 5000 hungry people are fed by the Sea of Galilee – Simon Peter’s net is filled with fish – abundance…and we have perfume flowing ceaselessly…and Jesus tells the critics to leave her alone… generosity breeds generosity…either we love generously, or we do not… either we are already engaged in providing and sharing with each other, or we are secretly hoarding what might otherwise be shared….
Much of modern religion focuses only on what is useful, practical, and cost effective…concern for seriousness arises when resources seem slim…we know this…yet, when it comes to the life of faith, we may discover our hearts are diminished if the budget is our first concern… should we live spendthrift lives?...no…can we justify the wasting of God’s gifts?...not really…however long a gift can be wasted, it must first be received…and…Jesus is the gift of God…the gift for us…the true gift that cannot be controlled…and when I close my eyes and concentrate on one of the scenes in the biblical text – in the place where what was happening was in the home of Lazarus, I can smell the fragrance filling the room…the perfume that Mary spread on Jesus’ feet….can you?...It’s erotic in a sense…it’s deep love in a deep sense… it’s all encompassing and all-true…and we don’t usually associate acts of witness with the sense of smell, do we…but why not?...the smell of freshly baked bread…wonderful….the smell of a clean room awaiting a guest…fresh…the smell of flowers opening up in the early summer morning…aroma…and the story is told of a woman by the name of Anne Smith who began the Charlotte Food Rescue program and was hauling a station wagon full of donuts to a food shelter…she had stopped off to make a pitch to executives of what is now the Bank of America…as she rode the elevator to the top floor, someone said, “You smell like doughnuts!”…she laughed and told why, and by the time the elevator door opened, she had recruited someone else to work with her cause…the fragrance of love’s actions is carried on the wind to places we never see…the extraordinary gifts are gifts from the heart…
So, in ending, I don’t want to leave Judas out of the conversation, he’s too important of a figure…Jesus’ journey to the cross includes not only Mary, a faithful disciple who devotes herself and all that she is to Jesus, but also Judas, the unfaithful disciple…both are included in the story of Jesus’ death and their inclusion tells us a great deal about the meaning of the cross and the inclusive nature of God’s grace…Jesus never says to Judas, “Feed my sheep” as he asked Peter too and this is because with Judas and Mary, there’s a paradoxical combination of a Christian disciple…which we are…and we’re not asked to identify with either of them but to put them together as one…because the grace of Jesus Christ includes them both, both the faithful and the unfaithful….both are included within the bright light which shines in a dark world…
May we continue to gift each other in radical ways and never ask for anything in return…blessings to all of you…Amen.