The Church Treasury, Judas, and Jesus’ Money Bag: A Parable

It was perhaps the most well-attended elders and deacons meeting ever. The elders had called the meeting to discuss building a new church building, and everyone wanted to participate in such a momentous decision.

There was no choice but to relocate. The city had condemned the building for an interstate extension and had paid very well for the church’s lot and building.

One of the elders chaired the meeting and passed out an agenda. The first point of discussion was where to locate. The eldership brought in a member who was a realtor. He’d surveyed the town looking for a site.

“We are fortunate that there are two or three excellent sites available,” the realtor began. He put a large city map on an easel with colored marks showing possible sites. “This one will be on an interchange on the interstate once it’s built. The owner is a Baptist friend of mine, and he’s willing to sell it for $200,000 an acre. We should buy at least 5 acres.” Eyes opened wide at the large number.

“This is a bargain!,” the realtor explained. “It’ll be worth two or three times that once the interstate is built, but my friend is willing to do us a favor so we can have a very visible, easily accessed location. We’ll likely grow 20% just because of having a new building and such a great location.”

“But there’s also a great location downtown.” He pointed to a spot on Main Street. “The bank that’s here is merging with another bank and needs to sell its site. We could be right across the street from the First Baptist, First Methodist, and First Presbyterian Churches. … I guess we’ll have to call ourselves the First Church of Christ!” No one laughed. “We can deal with the name later.” He paused and caught his breath. The tension in the room was becoming palpable. Money is always tough to talk about, he thought. “This site will cost $500,000, which is what half a city block costs nowadays. But it will only go up in value, and it will always be in the center of town.”

“Finally,” he said, “I have a location on the bypass near the car dealerships. This has the advantage of being close to the majority of our members and on a major highway with lots of traffic. We’ll have 30,000 cars go past the site a day–it’ll be just incredible visibility! And this site will cost $600,000, but it’s a large site with plenty of room to grow. If we expect to grow in large numbers, this site has the most room for expansion.”

The elder chairing the meeting thanked the realtor for his presentation. “Are there any questions?” At first, the room was silent. The deacons were clearly unprepared for such large numbers. Their town was growing, and prices were skyrocketing.

Finally, an older deacon spoke up. “We don’t need to run the church like a business! The gospel is attractive enough. We don’t need ‘visibility’ and ‘high traffic counts.’ Those are the concerns of businesses. But we are stewards of God’s money and must invest his money wisely. We have to give an account! If we could buy a site for less money, maybe $50,000, then we could take the difference and give it to the poor. Sometimes, I think we are too self-centered. We invest all this money in fancy buildings for ourselves, and we forget about our mission to others!”

The conversation immediately turned to a search for other sites. Eventually, a site was found for $48,000 on a low-traffic side street, with no room for future growth. It was two blocks off Main Street.

The church saved $450,000 to $950,000 on its site selection. After the move, it’s budget for the poor was $1,000 a year, used for transients who happen by asking for a free lunch–unchanged from before the move.

(John 12:1-8) Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

When Jesus said “You will always have the poor among you,” he was quoting from the Law of Moses,

(Deu. 15:11) There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

Jesus was hardly suggesting that we shouldn’t help the poor! He was only pointing out that the time of his presence on earth was exceptional. Indeed, we are taught in Matthew 25 that we’ll be judged by our treatment of those in need.

In my entirely fictitious story, the deacons argued that the church should not spend money on a better site so the money could be spent on the poor. But in reality, the money wasn’t spent at all. Rather, less money was raised from the members and the members kept the difference.

And so, I ask, what’s the difference between the deacons and Judas?