Extreme and Fanatical or Just In Love With Jesus?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32 NKJV
Was the Father being fanatical when He gave us His Son, or was He just in love with us? Is the Father being extreme when He gives us all things or is He just in love with us?
Image © Darrel Tank from GoodSalt.com
In John 12:1-8, a woman comes to Jesus with an extremely expensive bottle of perfume. She anoints Jesus with this costly perfume as an expression of her love and appreciation for the incredible sacrifice Jesus was making for her. She was a sinner, saved by the love of Jesus, and she simply wanted to give all she had for Jesus because Jesus was giving all He had for her.
However, some of the disciples, including Judas, took exception to her gift. They called it a waste of money that could have been used to help the poor. John points out though, that instead of helping the poor, Judas was using the poor fund to help himself. This leads me to a couple of conclusions. Judas called the woman out for being “wasteful” simply because he was not as generous and did not want to look bad.
So how do you make yourself look perfectly balanced while still being selfish? You label the unselfish woman as being fanatical and accuse her of extremism. Do some do this today? Others make reforms in their diet or behavior that we are not willing to make, so to make ourselves look balanced, we have to make the more conscientious person look unbalanced and extreme or fanatical. Pushing them into the far-right category moves us into the perfectly moderate and balanced category.
This woman was not being legalistic, fanatical, extreme, or unbalanced. She was simply in love with Jesus. She was simply giving all she had because Jesus was giving her all He had. This is the natural reaction of all who experience the love of Christ today. Just because someone is making changes that we are not willing to make does not mean that they are unbalanced or extreme fanatics. It could just mean that they love Jesus and want to show their appreciation for His love and sacrifice by making a few sacrifices themselves. That is what love does.
Going back to Judas acting like he was really interested in the poor while only serving himself – how many times have we said, “I wish I was rich so I could give to the poor?” Could we really be saying, “I wish I was rich so I could give to the poor without having to sacrifice?”
Jesus pointed out to Judas that the poor have always been there, and he can help them any time he wants. Likewise, we can help the poor any time we want, if we are willing to sacrifice. Do we really wish we had more money to give to the poor, or do we just wish we had more money so we could give to the poor without it being such a sacrifice?
When the Father gave everything, including His Son, it was a sacrifice. Is there any way we can genuinely respond to such love without also making a real sacrifice?
(6)