Thought of the Day 04.09.10

A story I read in the Christian Post the other day shocked me. A Texas megachurch gave away over $2 million in prizes over the course of its 30 Easter weekend services. They offered 16 cars, 15 flat-screen TVs, furniture sets, and hundreds of other prizes as enticement for people to hear about The Resurrection, all of which were donated.

At first glance, it seemed like they were saying that Jesus isn’t enough reason to get people to church and it was okay to try to bribe people into converting, not to mention the likely prosperity teaching issues. But then I realized that I may have had it exactly backwards.

If this was presented right, and I hope it was, the message is profoundly anti-materialistic. The church is daring people to answer a question: “Why do you think we can so eagerly give away the things you find so precious?” Perhaps it is precisely because what we were freely given is so much more valuable than these trifles.

I sometimes wonder whether I would have been with the woman anointing Jesus with the costly perfume…or with the disciples who criticized her extravagant, Gospel-imitating waste.