Waking Thoughts on Sacrifice

This morning as Joe and I were getting out of bed we were discussing whether or not I could use the Rational Method to estimate the runoff from a largish watershed just to get a ballpark figure to compare the flow that I calculated from Manning's Equation given the physical parameters stated in the problem, which to me and another student seemed to be a little off. The upcoming homework problem in my Ecohydraulics class, which I inherited from another professor, was set up to be very loosely designed to given students maximum room for creativity, but the problem is so loose that some of the unchecked definitions made the circumstances fairly unlikely to occur in real life. This led to Joe and I talking about Pathagorean's Theorem and how I was completely blown away when engineering graduate students were unfamiliar with a high school trigonometry concept. We then discussed how Joe wanted me to fix his turkey sandwich for lunch - turkey, cheese, tiny bit of lettuce, pepperoncinis, salt and pepper, and chips in a separate bag, please.

After Joe was out the door, I sat down to read Mark 14 from the Bible, since that was what I was emailed to read this morning. I find it interesting that Easter is around the corner, last week in community group we discussed sacrifice, and here I was reading the passage about the time leading up to Jesus's arrest and the lady who poured expensive perfume all over Jesus's feet. Jesus says something that makes me pause. The disciples are all worked up about the lady's waste of extravagance arguing that she should have used the wealth to help the poor. Jesus says, ""Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."

And I wonder that this idea of sacrifice laid out in the New Testament isn't so loosely defined as that homework problem that had my head spinning a little. I wonder if it is left open to allow creativity? To allow the movement of the Spirit? There are fairly rigid definitions of pleasing and acceptable sacrifices in the Old Testament, which Jesus through the sacrifice of his own life nullifies the need for in being reconciled to God once and for all. However, Jesus's sacrifice does not eliminate the occurrence or appropriateness of sacrifice in our lives. Sacrifice begets sacrifice. Love compels love. Friendship inspires friendship. In Mark 14, this women throws extravagance before Jesus. It was something he didn't need. The old widow who tithes her last penny at the temple, gives extravagantly to God, although God and certainly those running the temple did not need her penny.

Sometimes I view sacrifice as filling a need in a manner that will preferably cause me some discomfort in my lifestyle, whether it be taking up just a little more time, money, or emotional stamina that I am comfortable with. It's like I have a formula of sacrifice in my mind, and if my actions don't fit that formula - if my contributions don't put a sizable (noticeable) dent in a need, then I should stop where I am and come up with something else to do. However, looking at the actions of these two ladies in scripture, and numerous others (Joseph who donated his tomb for the burial of Jesus, the guy who let them use the upper room, the owner of the colt that Jesus rode, the mystery man who gave Jesus his linens after the guards arrested Jesus and then ran away naked), I see two things: extravagance and creativity. Extravagance is in the generosity of the offerings, and creativity is in that the actions did not appeal to the social norms

And as I hear Daniel waking, I have to close out my morning thoughts (relinquish them over to diapers and oatmeal and Hotwheels cars) with a final thought - it's about the heart. Sacrifice is about being compelled by the heart of Jesus. Sacrifice seems to be different than obedience - both should be driven by love: sacrifice by the sacrifice and ongoing workings of Jesus and obedience in our hope in the present and future grace of God. I think both need to be markers of faith - they should be clearly present in the life of a person whose heart has been captured and redeemed by Jesus.