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When is the last time you described something as extravagant? Maybe a lavish dinner out when the boss wanted to spare no expense celebrating a new venture. Or, when your extravagant gift conveyed lavish love and that delighted another. Extravagant is literally to go beyond the full measure of what is expected. This week, our text from John 12 describes an expression of extravagant love that powers extravagant mission.
We get a glimpse of true love in action when Jesus journeys to Bethany, his happy place at the home of his best friends, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. And yes, that Lazarus! The one “whom Jesus had raised from the dead.” While Lazarus was indeed a unique host, it was the way Mary expressed her gratitude to Jesus that shocked all the guests and provoked Judas, (Yes, that Judas!) to condemn her gift as extravagant, too pricey, overboard, and scandalous. (He reasoned that the fragrant, extravagant gift could have been sold and the money given to the poor. While that’s not a bad idea, find out on Sunday what Jesus had to say as his feet were anointed, and how he responded to Judas, because, Extravagrant Love and Extravagant Mission are inextricably bound together!
This week, “you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love” (Ephesians 3:18a). There is a place for you, here! (If you’re new to our church, discover more about what we believe and why we do what we do by visiting a special Welcome First-Time Guests page on our website, here.)
You know the difference between something that is plain, and something that is extravagant? Plain is good. Taking something that is plain and turning it into extravagant takes time, energy and attention. Consider matza. Do you know what matza is? Sure, it looks like a cracker. Kinda boring. But tasty! Why do some churches use plain, flat, crackers, matza, like this for communion at the Lord’s Table? Where did matza come from?
The idea for matza, unleavened bread, came from God. When God’s people were imprisoned in Egypt, they wanted more than anything to be free! Well, God heard their cry’s for help and sent Moses to lead them out of their prison! But, Moses told them, we gotta go! Now! You can’t delay. They didn’t have time to bake bread. Waiting for wheat and water to mix, blend, and be kneaded into dough, it must then wait for hours as it rises. Waiting. Waiting. Then it has to bake in the oven. More waiting. Since they couldn’t wait, they took their flour and water, rolled it out thin, then baked it in ovens and on hot stones. It didn’t take long. Matza reminds us of how God quickly freed us!
Here at our church, we improved on plain matza. Take a look. We have the tastiest communion bread anywhere, its like Scottish shortbread. We are so excited that God loves us, that Jesus leads us, we upgraded matza to Scottish communion bread!
But there’s more. Because God loves us in extravagant ways, what would matza look like if it was even more extravagant? How about chocolate-dipped Matza?! Yeah. Amazing. Here. Try some.
Remember that God’s love in Christ is extravagant. God doesn’t hold back. Beyond measure. There’s nothing plain about God’s love. You can enjoy these specially dipped matza that Melissa made. After worship, would you help me offer these extravagant matza to everyone else? Great! God’s love: Extravagant! Let’s pray.
While we all know exercise is important to our health, and most agree that we should exercise more, it can be a struggle. Run? Why run when you can stay put! Why run when you can drive, or ride? But, Research shows that running, more than other aerobic activity, keeps you healthy from the inside out. Did you know?:
- Running makes you happier. …
- Running helps you lose or maintain weight. …
- Running strengthens your knees (and your other joints and bones, too). …
- Running will keep you sharper, even as you age. …
- Running reduces your risk of cancer.
So, running is good. Walking is good. Any kind of aerobic exercise is beneficial. But the direction and object of our running is more important than the running itself. Have you ever had a day leaving you feeling like you were on a treadmill? Have you ever exerted lots of energy to do something great, only to be left dismayed with the underwhelming outcomes? Have you ever run with a right spirit of dedication only to realize you were ruining in the wrong direction? Well, that kind of running can be draining and unproductive. Lots of motion, but no progress! This week’s Gospel of Grace from Luke 15 reminds us that we’re not the only ones running as we consider Jesus’ parable depicting God as running for us! That’s right, imagine God running to meet us where we are, no matter where we are. God is running to catch up to us regardless of what we are caught up in. God runs to us, with us, and for us to bring words we long to hear: “You are loved.” “You are forgiven.” “I want to bless your whole life!” I will give you a future of hope.”
If you need to hear these powerful words, invest 30 minutes of your time and listen to this message from God’s word titled, “The Day God Ran.” If anyone knows something about running, its God. On our Lenten Journey, God is running for you with the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
There is a place for you, here! (If you’re new to our church, discover more about what we believe and why we do what we do by visiting a special Welcome First-Time Guests page on our website.)
Have you seen the new McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish commercial? This humorous ad features a toy mechanical fish mounted on a wall who sings, “Gimme that fish, O Gimme that fish…” announcing the return of the Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Have you ever wondered why the Filet-O-Fish Sandwich is so heavily promoted the same time every year? Hint: The special fish promotion always occurs during the 40 days of Lent. That’s right. It all started in a predominately Catholic neighborhood in Ohio when, in 1959, a McDonald’s franchise owner named Lou Groen noticed plummeting hamburger sales every Lenten season. Instead of just suffering through the 80% drop in sales, he decided to meet the needs of his customers by developing a non-meat alternative. The incredible success in delivering what his community needed is, as they say, history.
What does the Filet-O-Fish have to do with Jesus’ words about the fig tree from our text this week from Luke 13? As we will discover during this Sunday’s message titled, “Fish, Fig, Discipleship” the origin story of this popular sandwich can teach us a lot about our mission. You see, the fig tree Jesus spoke about was not producing the fruit the other crops needed, nothing for three years. But, instead of destroying the barren fig tree, the owner agreed to let the fig tree have one more year to deliver what was needed.
We know figs are remain a very popular fruit in the United States, but did you know that it was the abundant vitamins found in figs that motivated a Philadelphia baker in 1851 to produce a machine that could stuff the nutrient rich fig jam into pastry dough. Delivering what the community needed led a baking company to buy the machine and the cookies were a huge success. The town they were first produced was, you guessed it, Newton, Massachusetts!
Fish and figs can teach us a lot about discipleship as we follow Jesus during lent as we deliver spiritual nutrients our neighbors need.