daily java

Daily Java:

I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. (Matthew 9:12)

It is easy to see a God who is mad at us. We do act stupidly an awful lot. You don’t have to be in jail to know that. All you have to do is look around and see what all is happening. We figure that we do so many dumb things that God is angry most of the time and mildly annoyed the rest.

But the only problem with that is God is not made like that.

When God made us, he made us to be with him. In Genesis 1, he made people to be like him so that he could have someone to talk to. In fact the Bible says that in the Garden God walked with his people, enjoying conversation and just being together.

But then, of course, people sinned and couldn’t be with God. God is holy and in our sin we are not. There had to be a way to get back together.

There was where Jesus came in. He made us perfect by his sacrifice so that we could talk to God again.

But people confuse how the talking should be. Do we just stand around and do whatever we want? Or do we have certain things that we have to do, certain sacrifices and rituals?

Those who believe in the rituals and sacrifices will do anything to give them. Those rituals and sacrifices become the most important thing in the world. If they are not done, in their minds at least, God will be angry.

Jesus said – and this was his message his whole life – that God was more interested in what was inside of you than what was outside of you. He cares more for what is in your heart than what is outside. In other words, the sacrifices mean nothing if your heart is not in it.

It would be like giving a present to someone for their birthday still in the sack with the tag attached. That shows them that you had to buy a present so here it is and shut up now about it.

When we offer sacrifices – singing, giving, doing good things – and we do it simply because we have to and God might be mad otherwise (we would really rather do something else), the sacrifice is useless. Just because you do something doesn’t mean anything. It has to be from the heart or it is nothing.

That also means that sometimes you make mistakes by doing things wrong. If you belong to Jesus, he will forgive you as long as you are trying.

And God wants us to use that same attitude to others. They mess up when they are doing things to us. But God wants us to forgive them like he forgives us.

He wants the mercy because that is how he is made. The stuff without the heart behind it is as worthless to him as it would be to us.

God loves you and wants you to love others, hard as it may be. That is the real sacrifice.

daily java

Daily Java:

Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head. Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly. But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.” (Mark 14:3-9)

Every once in a while you want to do something nice for someone. It doesn’t have to be big, or expensive, but sometimes it may be.

But when you give them the gift, they say, “You didn’t have to do that.” Then chances are they will say, “Well, thanks anyway.”

Your gift and the spirit with which you gave it has been completely nullified in their minds. You didn’t have to do it, so therefore they feel no real obligation to thank you for it. And above all, they do not “owe you one.”

This happened to me recently with something as small as a cup of coffee I got for someone. And I have to admit, I am not sure I will get them another. Pettiness on my part, maybe. But why do things for people who do not appreciate it.

I have been thinking about it and today, when I read  this scripture, I remembered it.

A woman wanted to do something nice for Jesus, so she brought in a jar of expensive nard. Nard, according to the internet, is “the perfume of the lost Garden of Eden, and in literature, nard came to refer to any perfume, as long as it was exquisite.” In other words, really expensive perfume.

However, as is usually the case, people (self-righteous nitwits) started complaining (especially since it wasn’t done for them). They scolded her harshly. She could have sold the perfume for a lot of money and given it to the poor. And she could have, too. It would have gone a long ways toward helping a lot of poor people.

Jesus’ comment: just shut up and leave her alone. You always have poor people, but I am enjoying this right now.

Any gift we give to God could be used for something else. It could be used to support a missionary, or to help people in Africa buy a goat, or any number of other things. But sometimes, we just want to give him a gift.

It is kind of like buying flowers. You could do a lot of other things that are financially more responsible. But sometimes you just want to give your wife flowers. Sure they will die in a few days. But for a while, she just likes flowers.

It is a better thing in many ways to give a gift in memorial of someone’s death to a charitable organization. But sometimes you want to put some flowers on the casket. He loved roses, you say, so you give him one last gift of roses.

The woman in this passage could have sold the stuff and gotten a lot better return for it, but she wanted to do something nice for Jesus, and she did. And of course, she came under fire for wasting. But not from Jesus. He recognized the need for a gift. After all, he gave that kind of gift himself: the gift of his own life.

He said, one of these days, when people talk about the Good News, people will remember this woman and what she did.

And you know what? They are right. Here I am writing about it right now.

As Jesus said, she has done what she could and it made him happy.