浪 费 之 美
耶稣如同倒空一瓶昂贵的香油般倾其所有，给你带来自由，公正与和平。
我家有一个从没有上过大学的保姆。一天下午，在厨房的水池边，她随意地问了我是不是念过大学。对她的这个问题我有些意外，然后告诉她我念过。“你喜欢读大学吗？”她问道。我又有些意外。我说我非常热爱学习，所以去念了神学院，这样我不但可以传道，在基督教圈子里工作，而且也满足了我的学习欲望。“听上去真是太好了，”她又说，“我也爱念书。”
不可否认凯蒂绝对有能力成为一个好学生。她每天都是夹着厚厚的硬皮书来我家，通常是狄更斯或吉卜林的经典书。她常常在我们家的书架上搜索要借的书。无论她借走的是中国论文集，宗教哲学书，还是历史书，几天后她来还书时都会准备好对那本书的优点做一番讨论。
凯蒂嗜书如命，贪婪地看书和花零钱买书。一次我和她家里人一起吃晚饭，她说那个礼拜的亮点就是她订购的几本书提前送到了。我想着像她这样的孩子对任何一个大学的比较文学专业都是何等一个财富，然而为什么她没有去念大学呢。
当我最初接触凯蒂，请她做我孩子们的保姆时，她很自然地提到工资问题。对我提出的不高的工资，她很犹豫是不是要接受。她觉得那太多了，并说要为此祷告。我打电话给她的母亲说，这点工资是任何一位二十几岁有点能力的女孩子都至少可以挣得到的，她母亲说，“对凯蒂来说，这份工作是她的侍奉。”
凯蒂没有去念大学是因为她的整个生活都是在服侍。她对基督要求我们服务他人的忠告非常认真。虽然在家中帮佣不是当今美国社会的文化，她还是选择用这种服务的方式来生活。她有时会去北方住几个月，照顾老人或志愿在新英格兰的小圣经学校里帮忙。这个秋天，为了帮助母亲从多年劳累中解脱一下，她替母亲在家里教她的三个小弟弟读书。
我从办公室下班回到家里，都能享受着古典音乐和新烤出来的面包香味。当凯蒂不在的时候，孩子们会想念她。我每天都因为她的工作而受益，如今却开始相信上帝将她安排在我的生命里绝不单单是来帮助我，更是来教我些什么东西的。
在圣经里有一个像她这样的女人的故事。虽然她周围的人都觉得她不重要甚至挺傻，耶稣却赞扬她的美德。我说的女人就是那个打破了玻璃瓶子，把昂贵的香油膏在基督头上的女人。（马可福音14：3-9）
她这种谦卑的姿态并没有带来重生或是医治，没有被捆绑的因她被释放，没有痛苦被安抚，没有饥饿得到饱足。没有人的心灵被改变，没有外邦人皈依，也没有任何物质上的收益。
是的，这个女人没有得到身边人的赞扬。她的作为被指责和轻视，她被当作是一个低贱的农妇无知到不懂得她的行为是种浪费。
然而这却是她用单纯的服务表达她的爱的方式。耶稣认可了它的价值，并使这种浪费的奉献成为不朽，所以我们在2000多年后还能从这个伟大的女子身上学到真理。
放弃大学教育来帮助抚养其他人的孩子？放弃你的天赋和青春来服务他人？听上去像是开玩笑。
在圣经中没有规定我们放弃正规教育或必须和父母同住来帮助他们。我们每个人侍奉主的方式都是独一的。那上帝要你去“浪费”又是什么意思呢？也许你选择追随上帝的呼招需要放弃经济上的收益和职业上的认同，而那些却都是现世里劳苦的目的。也许当你行走于那少有人追寻的精神启迪的道路上，发现更多的是默默无名和辛劳工作的人。
有时候我们大多数奉献的结果却只是批评和自我怀疑。当我们回头看，想那不同的选择会是什么结果时，我们的臂膀显得无力和卸怠。我认识一个为人妻的原谅了她的丈夫与人通奸。当我在探访她后开车回家的途中，她打电话给我告诉了我她丈夫的不忠。说因为不想破坏我访问她的时间，她一直等到我离开才告诉我这个事情。我把车停到停车场后哭了起来。她说几乎所有的人都鼓励她申请离婚，然而她选择相信主赐给她宽恕的力量。我目睹了她同抵抗和愤怒的情绪抗争，跪到地上向主哭喊，然后全心付出给她的家庭。只有神的力量能让她如此做。因为基督的死，她现在得以活着。
我还认识一个住在埃塞俄比亚的传道人。当她在美国休假时，我与她简短地见过面。她的服饰很旧而且过时，也谈不上有什么发型。她用整个年轻岁月去救助饥饿的人们，甚至错过了结婚的时机。她很有能力，足以使她在家乡过更轻松的生活，但是她却选择了生活在别的国家那些受蔑视的人们中间。
每当我遇见这样的人，我的内心第一反应总是：为什么？为了什么目的去浪费那瓶香油？为什么像凯蒂这样聪明年轻的女孩不去大学念书然后为自己争取些名誉？为什么我的朋友不离开她的丈夫去过她的新生活？为什么那传道人不选择一种更舒适的生活？这时就有一个声音超越了所有的告诉我说：“让她去，你为什么要干扰她呢？”
这是来自一个传道者，一个救赎者，一个审判者的声音。这是耶稣的声音，他是所有人的仆人。
上帝“浪费”了他心爱的儿子在这世上，而世人甚至都不在乎。这个圣诞，还是会有人们会抗议庆祝他的诞生。每年，不信主的人都会抵制这庆生的场景和欢唱圣诞赞歌，甚至是一句简单的“圣诞快乐”也会不受欢迎。更糟的是，他们会忽视救主本人。充斥了礼物和节日欢庆的圣诞，人们甚至遗忘了上帝赐下那最无价的礼物。
然而上帝却依然给予。
还有谁的礼物能比得上上帝的独生子珍贵？一个完美的小男孩被赐给那无情的罪人们作为救赎。“神爱世人，甚至将他的独生子赐给她们，叫一切信他的，不至灭亡，反得永生。”（约翰福音3：16）上帝爱你们，这爱是如此伟大，以至于他扼杀了心爱的儿子的生命。耶稣如同倒空一瓶昂贵的香油般倾其所有，给你带来自由，公正与和平。
主看着你在这不友善的世界中挣扎着为了生存。他明了你心灵中的焦虑，听见你头脑里痛苦的声音。他是上帝给劳苦心灵的医治。当世间已经没有了能够减轻生命重担的东西时，基督来为你担起生命的轭。
上帝没有保证过会把你渴望的一切都给你，装满你的口袋或是许诺给你物质上的成功，他的赐予大大超越世间的琐碎。他将他的儿子给你，陪伴你在这个摇摇欲坠，支离破碎的世界里走过生命的火堆，将你转变成基督的样式。
一个认识到这些真理的人曾经听过一篇讲道鼓励人们效法基督。讲道人定义基督的爱是“一种彻底的和颠覆性的行动”例如“挑战在企业、政府、学校中根深蒂固的邪恶势力；打击所有的社会上的毒害。”他悄悄对边上的朋友说：“我认识一个单身母亲。她的女儿精神上和身体上都严重残疾。每天从早到晚，那个母亲的时间，精力和关心都花在喂食，照顾，擦洗，给孩子穿衣脱衣，抱着她度过一阵阵的疼痛和肌肉痉挛，以及理解并回应孩子发音不清的咕哝和抽搐。对于那个母亲来说，这就是她所能为耶稣做的最彻底和颠覆性的爱的行为。”
像凯蒂，被丈夫背叛了的妻子和那位传道人这样的人们究竟是如何克服她们现实境况的束缚的呢？她们只是张开双臂接受了基督的礼物，这礼物给了她们力量、勇气在这个支离破碎的世界中得胜地生活下去。她们得到了主的力量，并让这力量在她们内心生根发芽，然后再作为神圣的芳香祭归还给主。她们为主“浪费”她们的爱，而主接受这礼物就好像接受昂贵的香油一般。
这个圣诞，当你在纪念基督的诞生的时候，想一想那小马槽里襁褓中的奉献吧。上帝为了你能够有一个光明的生活目标而将自己亲爱的儿子毫无保留地赐给了世人。愿你能接受那份礼物并慷慨倾倒出所有作为给他的回报。愿你也能听到他这样的话语，“让他去吧，为什么干扰他呢？他为我做了一件很好的事情啊。”
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Pouring Himself out as a vial of costly perfume, Jesus offers you liberation, justification, and peace.
I have a nanny who has never been to college. We were standing by the kitchen sink one afternoon, and she casually asked me if I had been to college. I was surprised by the question and told her I had. "Did you enjoy it?" she asked. Again I was surprised. I loved learning so much that I went on to seminary, not so I could preach or even work in the Christian arena, but simply to satiate my desire to learn. "It sounds wonderful," she said. "I love learning, too."
That Katie would make a good student is undeniable. She arrives at my house every day with a sizable hardback tucked under her arm, usually a classic by Dickens or Kipling. She scours our bookshelves, frequently borrowing books. Whether she takes a Chinese memoir, a philosophy of religion, or a work of history, she returns it just a few days later prepared to discuss its merits.
Katie is a ravenous reader. She devours books and spends her spare money on them. I dined with her family one evening when she announced that the highlight of her week was the premature delivery of a few books she had ordered. I thought of what an asset she would be to any comparative literature department and wondered why she didn't go to college.
When I first approached Katie about working as a nanny for my children, we naturally broached the topic of her salary. She was hesitant to accept the modest amount I had offered梥he thought it was too much梐nd told me she would pray about it. I phoned her mother and explained that any capable young lady in her mid twenties should be making, at the very least, what I offered. "For Katie, this is a ministry," she told me.
Katie isn't in college because her whole life is a ministry. She takes seriously Christ's admonition to serve others. Although domestic servants are not a part of modern American culture, she has chosen to live her life tending to other people's needs. She travels north梥ometimes staying several months梩o care for elderly people or to volunteer her services in a tiny Bible school in New England. This fall, she has devoted herself to home schooling her three younger brothers and helping her mother to recuperate from years of excessive exertion.
I come home from my office to the sound of classical music and the smell of fresh baked bread. My children ask for Katie when she is away. Although I am blessed by her service each day, I'm beginning to believe that God put her in my life to teach me more than to serve me.
There is a story of a woman like her in the Bible. Although she seemed insignificant梕ven foolish梩o those around her, Jesus applauded her virtues. I am speaking of the woman who broke a vial of costly perfume and anointed Christ's head. (Mark 14:3-9)
Her humble gesture did not bring about revival or healing. No captives were set free, no suffering was eased, no hunger sated. No minds were changed, no heathens proselytized, and nothing monetary attained.
No, this woman did not garner praise from her peers. Her offering was met with rebuke and disdain梚t was seen as the deed of a lowly peasant too ignorant to understand the extravagance of her act.
Yet it was an act of love梐n act of pure service. And Jesus recognized its value. He immortalized it so people like me could know of this remarkable woman 2,000 years later and learn from her.
Give up a college education to help raise other people's children? Sacrifice your talent and youth to serve other people? You must be kidding.
There is no mandate in Scripture to forego a formal education or to live with our parents in order to help them. The ways in which we serve God are unique to each of us. What is it that God has asked you to "waste?" Perhaps you have chosen to pursue God's calling on your life at the expense of the financial rewards and professional accolades that seem to comprise the object of our earthly toil. Maybe you walk along the road less traveled in search of spiritual enlightenment and find mostly anonymity and hard work.
Sometimes our most sacrificial offerings yield only criticism and self-doubt. We look over our shoulder and think of what might have been. Our alms seem frivolous and irresponsible. I know a wife who has forgiven her husband for adultery. While I was driving home from an extended visit with her, she called to tell me of his unfaithfulness. Not wanting to taint out time together, she had waited until I left to deliver the news. I pulled the car into a parking lot and wept. Although nearly everyone encouraged her to file for divorce, she chose to trust the Lord for the strength to forgive. I have watched her struggle with the devastating emotions of rejection and anger, fall to her knees and cry out to God, and then pour herself out for her family. It is only His strength that allows her to do so. Because of His death, she now lives.
I also know a missionary who lives in Ethiopia. I met her only briefly when she was on furlough in the United States. Her clothing was old and outdated, her hair unstylish. She'd spent her youthful years feeding hungry people as her eligibility for courtship faded. She was certainly capable enough to procure an easier life in her homeland, but chose instead to live among lepers in a foreign country.
When I meet people like this, my mind speaks the thoughts of my heart before I can edit them: Why? For what purpose has this perfume been wasted? Why doesn't a bright young lady like Katie go to college and make a name for herself? Why doesn't my friend leave her husband and move on with her life? Why doesn't the missionary pursue a more comfortable living?
There is one voice that rises above the others, saying, "Let her alone, why do you bother her?" It is the voice of an advocate, a redeemer, a judge. It is the voice of Jesus, who is a servant to all.
God "wasted" the gift of His beloved Son on a world that really doesn't care. This Christmas, people will actually contest the celebration of His birth. Every year, unbelievers protest the nativity scene, the singing of Christian hymns, even the simple platitude, "Merry Christmas." Worse, they will ignore Him. Preoccupied with presents and holiday festivities, people everywhere will fail even to acknowledge God's priceless gift.
Yet He gave it.
Could anyone have offered more than His only child梐 precious, perfect little baby boy to be given as a ransom for heartless sinners? "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). God loves you with a love so powerful that it extinguished the life of His beloved Son. Pouring Himself out as a vial of costly perfume, Jesus offers you the gift of liberation, justification, and peace.
The Lord sees your struggle for survival in our inhospitable world. He knows the angst of your soul and hears the condemning voices in your head. He is God's remedy for the travailing spirit. When nothing in this world mitigates the strain of life, Christ will take up your cause桯e will prevail in your behalf.
God does not promise to fill your pockets with everything you desire or to grant you material success in life. His bequest is far greater than earthly trifles. He gives you His Son to walk with you through the fires of life in a fallen and broken world as He transforms you into His likeness.
A man who understood this truth listened to a sermon that exhorted people to emulate Christ. The speaker defined Christ's love as "committing radical and subversive acts" like "challenging entrenched evil in corporations, government, education; taking on all the societal Goliaths." He leaned over to his friend and whispered, "I know a woman who's a single mother. Her daughter is severely mentally and physically handicapped. Every day, all day, that mother's time and energy and attention is taken up feeding, caring for, washing, dressing and undressing her child, holding her through her fits of pain and her muscle spasms, trying to understand and respond to her inarticulate grunts and jerks. That's about as radical and subversive an act of love for Jesus as she can manage." (Your God is Too Safe, Mark Buchanan, Multnomah Press, 2001)
How do people like Katie, the betrayed wife, and the missionary overcome the confinement of their earthly situations? They open their arms and receive the gift of Christ, that gives them the power and might to live victoriously in a broken world. They take His strength, let it germinate and take root in their hearts, and then give it back to Him as a holy, fragrant offering. They "waste" their love on Him, and He receives it as costly perfume.
This Christmas, as you commemorate Christ's birth, think about the sacrifice that is swaddled in the tiny manger. God gave His cherished Son without reservation in order that you might live your life with brilliant purpose. May you receive that gift and pour it out lavishly as an offering to Him. May you hear His voice saying, "Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to me."
桾onya Stoneman
[此贴子已经被作者于2005-1-4 19:47:08编辑过]
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发表于 2005-1-4 19:30
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