Behold The Man*

A Gift to God

My reply in 1983 to a letter from the chairperson of our local Christian Aid committee.

On receiving your letter, for which many thanks, there were some things to which I wanted to reply, and I eventually decided that a letter would be the most effective way. For I think that we have here a disagreement among friends! For my donation to Christian Aid was an act of obedience rather than an act of charity or compassion, and a gift to God rather than to the poor. And there is a difference.

Remember that the passage I chose to illustrate my Sunday School lesson on World Poverty was the woman who brought a box of very expensive perfume - probably the most expensive thing she owned - and poured all of it over Jesus. And the people around are horrified and gasp in astonishment. "What a waste! She should have sold it and given it to the poor." But Jesus said, "Because of this thing she has done she will always be remembered." Now if the main priority of Jesus ministry had been to serve the poor, he would have rebuked the woman himself. But at this point in his life Jesus stood within the shadow of the cross, and his compelling priority was to carry out the will of his Father right to the end of that road. When the woman with a heart overflowing with love lavishes the perfume upon him, the fullness of his heart goes out to her. For he accepts her gift as an anointing - perhaps even an affirmation - for what he knows is before him: a death in which he will pour himself out in obedience to his Father, more precious offering than any perfume.

For I am convinced that Jesus had only one priority. The gospels tell us that he came "preaching the kingdom of God". The most illuminating interpretation I have seen of the word "Kingdom" is to think of it as "Government": the "Government of God". This is as he gave us it in his own prayer. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". This I am now convinced is the key to understanding the life of Jesus. His concern in every moment and in every way was to demonstrate what the rule of God meant, by his own obedience. I don't think that what I am saying is theologically revolutionary, but it has come home to me with the force of a revolution. The more particularly because it has solved a puzzle that has been with me for quite some time. A modern evangelical writer like John Scott, while recognising the past failure of the evangelical churches to take the social implications of the Gospel fully seriously, separates evangelism (the great commission - "Go Preach") from social concern (the great commandment - "Love Your Neighbour") as two essentially separate and independent facets of the Churches' mission. But when I looked at the unity of Christ's ministry, I was convinced that Jesus acknowledged no such division. But it was only after the House Group meeting at Woodfield at which (shortly after you left early) I for the first time consciously explored this priority of Jesus and its implications for ourselves and our Church (and incidentally received such enthusiastic agreement from Ian: "This is the core"), that I found a totally convincing solution. For if Jesus' purpose was in all ways to demonstrate the rule and will of God, it was indeed as natural for him to say "Take up your bed and walk" as to say "Your sins are forgiven". For the God who calls his people to purity and righteousness is also the God who demands healing, justice and restoration for the sick, the needy and the oppressed.

Thus the Lord's Prayer does not mention the poor, for it does not need to. Their care is already embraced within the coming of the Kingdom of God and the doing of His will. Yet if by some miracle the problem of world poverty was to be solved tomorrow, the message of the Lord's Prayer would stand as it has always stood, and my own Christian faith would in essence (though not in practice) be altered but little.

Returning again to the Sunday School lesson which started all of this. At the start of my preparation period of prayer and meditation the thought in my mind was  "How do I teach my young people that although money is important, and not least in tackling world poverty, yet Jesus taught us that the opening of our lives to God's will is even more important." In other words, that the God to whom we give our money is more important than the money we give. For almost every influence on their lives (including the appeals we make - and quite rightly make - to peoples' generosity for Christian Aid) teaches them that money and the things it can buy are the most important things in life. This was when the picture of the woman pouring the alabaster box of perfume over Jesus came to my mind. For this clearly showed that Jesus did not think that the money she was 'wasting' was the most important thing. Then as I thought about this a second image came to my mind; that of taking a pound note and tearing it up in front of my young people. For I thought (rightly!) that this might have almost as dramatic an effect on my 12 - 14 year olds as did the lavish behaviour of the woman on the adults around her.

But I was then concerned that if I left them with this image, they might go away thinking that I meant that money was not important, whatever else I might say to the contrary. And it was while wondering how I could avoid this danger which would have nullified what I was saying, that a voice within me said, "In this month's salary you have received an extra £220 for back-pay due to you because of the long delay in your recent pay settlement. Give me half of it." And so, after discussing it with my wife and getting her agreement, I wrote the cheque for Christian Aid which I showed on the Sunday to my class. Simply my own small act of obedience, which in comparison to the obedience Jesus showed to his Father pales into insignificance; and a returning of a little of His bounty to a bountiful God for the care he has lavished upon me, materially and in more important ways, throughout my life.

I have already written more words than any self-respecting letter should contain. So let me conclude by saying one last thing. If we can recover this emphasis which Jesus had on open, trustful listening for the word of God spoken into our lives, I see here a key for unlocking the barriers which are growing so insurmountable between the evangelical and the social wings of our churches - a division which we feel even in our local Woodfield group. For the life of Jesus demonstrates, as I hope in some small way did also my own gift, that if the priority of our every moment is to realise the Kingdom of God at the point where we stand, by seeking and obeying God's will without any prior assertion of what that will entail, then all other things will be added unto us. For who at any time more effectively brought hope and comfort to the crippled and the destitute? And who also ever more effectively fed the spiritual hunger in the souls of men? Yet I am certain that Jesus had neither as his priority, and nor will I.

Seek my face.
They face, Lord, will I seek.