How is money a barometer of our soul?
Text: Matthew 26:1-16
Hosts:
J. Kent Edwards
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
Narrator: Brian French
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2025 CrossTalk Global
Brian: Although the barometer was invented in 1643, it is still in use today because it can predict the weather by measuring changes in atmospheric pressure. When atmospheric pressure rises, the mercury in a small tube of the barometer rises, causing the needle to move upward. Up is good because high pressure systems push clouds and rain away. However, a falling barometer indicates decreasing air pressure, pulling the barometer's needle down and signaling that bad weather is imminent. Pilots, sailors, and farmers continue to use barometers because they help predict the weather. Strange as it may sound, money serves as a barometer. It also acts as a predictor. Money reveals our true values and forecasts our future. The greater the internal pressure we feel to use our money for the glory of God, the better our relationship with Him. The needle points upward. However, if our desire to contribute to the cause of Christ is diminishing and we find ourselves spending increasingly more on ourselves or hoarding our resources, it indicates that our heart's desire for God is declining, the needle is pointing downward, and the outlook is not promising. Join Vicki Hitchkiss, Kent Edwards, and Nathan Norman as they find that few places in the Bible illustrate the barometer principle of our finances more clearly than Matthew chapter 26. Welcome to CrossTalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life, into all our lives. I'm Brian French. Today, Dr. Kent Edwards, Vicki Hitzges, and Nathan Norman continue their discussion through the Gospel of Matthew. If you have a Bible handy, turn to Matthew chapter 26 as we join their discussion.
Kent: I need to begin today with a bit of a confession. I'm abandoning one of my core principles of teaching and preaching, the importance of highlighting the big idea. Let me just explain why we find ourselves at the beginning of Matthew chapter 26, and the natural unit goes all the way, I think, to the end of chapter 28. I promise that we'll present the big idea of this whole natural unit in a few weeks. But since this is such a long passage and the emotional intensity of Christ's journey to the cross is so strong that in the midst of that, we see people acting in very revealing ways. I want to make a series of observations this week in the next couple of weeks as we approach Matthew's final big idea in the fourth week. Sound like a plan?
Vicki: Sure.
Nathan: If we say no, there's no other option, is there?
Vicki: I'll just say yes.
Nathan: Oh, I mean, yes. Absolutely. I'm on board. Great idea, Kent. Glad you had it.
Kent: Ah, good answer. I've taught you well. Let's jump in. In chapter 26, Jesus Extensive teaching of his disciples is finished. Now is the time for action. I mean, it's very clear the mood changes quickly in chapter 26, verse one, doesn't it?
Vicki: Well, it says when Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, as you know, the Passover is two days away and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.
Kent: You can't get much clearer than that. In the most obvious plain way possible, he tells his disciples he is heading for the cross. And things began to happen quickly.
Vicki: It says the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Cafas. They schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. But not during the festival, they said, or there may be a riot among the people.
Kent: So there's the gathering of the influential people, religious people, and they're not gathering to wonder what to do. They've decided what they're going to do. They already know as they gather that they are going to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. Clearly Matthew wants us to know that Jesus was on his way to the cross and that he will soon die. What I find fascinating is that there's three very different responses to the news of Jesus impending execution in the passages that follow. Jesus wants us to see the difference and interestingly, they seem to be all financial responses. I mean, look at verse 6.
Nathan: While Jesus was in Bethany, in the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume which he poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
Kent: Bethany was an important place for Jesus, wasn't it?
Nathan: Yeah, it was close by to Jerusalem, but he had a family. He was close to Mary, Martha and Lazarus, so he was able to retreat there. He'd raised Lazarus from the dead, so he was warmly welcomed within that community and among that family in particular.
Kent: It tells us as well that this home he was in, Jesus was in on this occasion was the home of Simon the leper. That's kind of interesting, isn't it?
Vicki: Yeah, you can imagine Simon was quite fond of him. My golly, he was one of the lepers. Jesus had healed and he'd given him his life back. So Simon was offering his home.
Kent: So this is a point of real emotional poignancy. Jesus knows that he is going to die. He's announced that he's come for a Quiet time with friends in a city that. That he was familiar with, with people that he knew well. And a woman came into the room and stole the show. Ruined the party, actually. How did you do that?
Vicki: Well, this is a really famous story. She came in with this perfume. It was pure nard. It came from India, and it was in an alabaster jar, which even today, alabaster is a beautiful jar. The perfume was worth, I think, in today's money, $20,000. So it would have been her life savings, probably back then, for her age. And she poured it all over him. She didn't go like, spritz, spritz, let me get that other ear. You know, she poured it all over him, and she did it because she loved him.
Kent: It's interesting when I read this because coincidentally, my pastor preached on another gospel of the same account, and he decided to try and bring this to life. So he actually got pure nard, the same oil that is mentioned here.
Vicki: Is it still expensive?
Kent: Yeah, well, not as expensive as it was then because it's not as much demand, but. But he took it and got a little spray bottle and sprayed a card inside each of the bulletins handed out as you came into church.
Vicki: Oh, wow. Is it amazing?
Kent: It was awful.
Nathan: Really?
Brian: Really.
Kent: So we didn't know what was going on. So he said, no, take this out, put it up to your nose and smell it. Well, it was so strong that, I mean, some of the people left the auditorium because they were allergic to it.
Vicki: Oh, how awful. A bad object lesson.
Kent: When we got home at the end of the service, my wife said to me, throw that out. I don't want it in the house. Throw it in the outside trash can.
Nathan: But you unfortunately brought it into the car.
Vicki: Explain that. This was supposed to be an amazing gift this lady gave Jesus.
Kent: Yeah, but it was, as Jesus will say, this was given for his burial. Right. This is what you put on a corpse when the person has died to come.
Vicki: Yeah, but corpses stink enough by themselves. I don't get it.
Nathan: It's like Patchoula oil with hippies who are smoking marijuana. Patchoula oil is gross. It doesn't smell good, but it masks the smell of marijuana effectively. And so nard is similar in the respect that you put it on a dead body because it doesn't smell great in and of itself, but it's a lot better smelling than the dead rotting corpse. Right. Also, it has. It has metaphorical significance. Right. In practice. But yeah, think about it like Patchoula oil and the hippies. Like, it smells but you can't smell the marijuana anymore.
Vicki: Do you think she knew it was gonna stink?
Kent: Yeah, but she was doing this because she knew, because Jesus had said that he was going to die in a day or two. So she was anointing him for his burial. This was a sign of great love, of great emotion, and realizing because it was worth about $20,000, this was her, as you said, this is her life savings. She's responding to what Jesus is doing with a gift of extravagant love. And it overwhelmed.
Vicki: Oh, this is a much better story.
Kent: You know, what was her motivation? She knew that Jesus was going to die that weekend out of his love for her. We know in John 15, Jesus said, Greater love has no man than this. To lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends. Jesus is giving up everything for them and for her. So she wanted to respond in kind with everything she had. She wanted him to know by the size, the extravagance of her gift how much she loved him. She responds to his extravagant expression of love with an extravagant expression of love of her own. Just contrast that with the disciples reaction, because she reacted one way with unparalleled extravagant generosity to the knowledge that he was going to die. But look at how the disciples responded.
Vicki: Oh, they were such bozos. They responded badly, often. Let's see. It said. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. That's not the word you'd think would come up. They were indignant. Why this waste? They asked. This perfume could have been sold at a high price. And the money given to the poor.
Kent: That's an interesting choice of words. They were, the passage says indignant literally. That means they were furious about something that was morally wrong. They weren't saying this was unwise. They're saying this woman wasn't just stupid, she was morally wrong to do that, that it was waste. Her whole demonstration of love was trash of no value whatsoever. Isn't that strong?
Vicki: It's very strong. Especially because you could, I'm sure by looking at the scene, you could tell that her heart was in it. And her motive was pure.
Kent: Absolutely. But for the disciples, it seems the bottom line was the bottom line. These were practical men. They wanted tangible results. This money should have been given to the poor. They had a utilitarian view of money. You know what they wanted? They wanted to know how many hungry stomachs could be filled if we sold it and gave it to the poor. They viewed the anointing of Jesus as. As frivolous and useless a waste of money.
Vicki: They wish they'd thought of it.
Kent: Sometimes we have that view of money ourselves, don't we? I mean, how many times, Nathan, have you been in a board meeting where someone has said, we've got to pay attention to the bottom line here?
Nathan: Or how many times have I been the person to say that that might be as well? Or we have to be good stewards of God's money? Yeah, okay.
Kent: Yeah.
Nathan: Not hidden home at all. No, no.
Kent: We need to be results oriented in our mission strategy. What are the tangible results? This extravagant demonstration of love that's a waste of God's money. That's been said at board meetings all around the world from the beginning of time. But look at Jesus assessment of their purely utilitarian use of money.
Vicki: Well, he said, it says, aware of this. Jesus said to them, why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.
Kent: Wow.
Vicki: And here we are talking about it now.
Kent: Here we are.
Vicki: I wonder. I wonder if she told him what she was doing or if, being God, he knew her heart because he said, she did it to prepare me for burial.
Kent: Yeah, well, it was burial perfume poured.
Brian: All over him.
Kent: Without hesitation. So I think Jesus knew immediately what she was doing. She was responding to his extravagant demonstration of love with that of herself. The disciples said the woman was, in effect, sinful because she had given extravagantly because she was motivated by love. Jesus rebuked them because their approach was purely utilitarian, that they should give only for need. They should be only motivated by need, not love. But isn't love by definition extravagant? I mean, we have a custom in our culture that if you're going to get engaged to a woman, you give a diamond ring. Why?
Vicki: It's extravagant. It's beautiful. In fact, I think it's supposed to be a man's whole month's salary.
Kent: Well, when I got engaged, they said it was three months salary.
Vicki: Was it?
Kent: Yeah, it was three months. And you know what? I gave six months salary.
Vicki: Whoa. Because you are so romantic.
Nathan: No, because he was poor.
Kent: I was unemployed, okay? I was unemployed. And you don't need to give a diamond ring to get married. I'm not saying that, but the custom is there because you're saying, in essence, I love you so much. You are so valuable that I want to express it with something that will always remind you of how great my love is for you. It's a gift of love. It's not utilitarian. A woman doesn't use the diamond ring for anything. But it's an expression of great love. Vicki, how much does a wedding dress cost?
Vicki: Thousands. And it can be thousands and thousands and thousands depending on the dress that you wear, by the way, for an hour.
Kent: Right. So why not just wear old jeans to the wedding?
Vicki: Because it's a ceremony saying, I love.
Kent: You, and it's a disrespect. I want to. A wedding dress is a symbol saying, I value this day. I value the relationship that we're having. No, it's an act of love, not utilitarianism. When your father dies, do you fly to go to their funeral?
Vicki: Oh, yeah, you absolutely go. You want to be with your family, you're grieving. You want to share that experience.
Kent: And out of love for your father, it's love.
Vicki: Yeah.
Kent: That's why you go. Love always causes an extravagant response. And Jesus is saying that when it comes to giving, frugality is not a virtue. Give out of love. A movie of the last days of Christ came out a few years ago, do you remember? Called the Passion of Christ.
Vicki: Oh, yeah.
Nathan: A few years ago. 20 some odd.
Kent: That title. The Passion of Christ. That's a good title. Because in Jesus death, we see Jesus passion for us. Why can't we give back to him with the same passion? Why can't we give to him with that same kind of limitless generosity? So in this passage, we see what the woman does with her act of generosity. We see how the disciples respond with their lack of generosity and their utilitarianism. And now we see a third response of people's use of money. It seems that the only way to stoop lower than the disciples in our approach to giving is to follow the example of Judas. Use of money.
Vicki: Oh, wow. Then One of the 12, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, what are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you? So they counted out for him 30 pieces of silver. From then on, Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
Kent: Wow. The woman gave extravagantly out of her boundless love for Jesus. The disciples thought giving should only be utilitarian, to provide necessities. But Judas found out a way to monetize his relationship with Jesus. He wasn't interested in giving at all. He was taking back what he thought he was owed. Have you ever Wondered about Judas, why he decided to be a disciple of Jesus in the first place, why he decided to respond this way when the end was obviously near. We've said in the past that there's no sin so great that people are not capable of justifying, at least in their own mind. What was his justification for stealing, for monetizing his relationship with Jesus?
Vicki: What do you think, Nathan? Do you think he thought, well, he's going to be dead?
Nathan: I think it's the same reason many of us follow Jesus today, right? We're not interested in Jesus. We are interested in what he's going to do for us. And as the rapper Shailen said in one of his songs, if you're following Jesus for money, Jesus isn't your God. Money is. And how often do we follow Jesus like Jesus, you're going to make my life better, right? Jesus heal me. And it's not wrong to ask for healing. But if you're following him for money, or if you're following him for healing, or you're following him for power, or you're following him for prestige, are you really following him? Or you're just saying, I'm following you as long as I can get something out of you? And I think that's far too often our mentality, and I think that was Judas mentality. When he saw I'm not getting anything out of Jesus, that's when he decided to betray him. Now, well, what can I get out of Jesus? Well, if I hand him over, I can get some money. And 30 pieces of silver is not insignificant.
Kent: It's not $20,000 today, but still it's a good chunk of change. I think Judas followed Jesus because Jesus said repeatedly he would bring in the kingdom of God. He wanted a piece of that. But as time went on, it was clear that what Judas thought would be a physical kingdom where he would have prestige and wealth that would come along with that kingdom. It became obvious that Jesus idea of the kingdom of God wasn't that at all. At least not yet. And when he realized he wasn't going to get paid the way he thought, I think somewhere down deep he thought that he was not betraying Jesus, but Jesus was betraying him because he couldn't get what he wanted. He sold him out.
Nathan: And Google tells me, adjusted for inflation, around $340.
Vicki: Yeah, that's not much.
Kent: Nope.
Vicki: I mean, that's just not much to betray somebody for that kind of money.
Nathan: Couldn't even buy a PlayStation 5.
Vicki: No, you couldn't. I mean, there's Nobody. People I just violently don't like. I wouldn't sell them out for $300.
Kent: Judas was a grifter. He was motivated not by love, but by potential financial benefits he thought he could gain from his relationship with Jesus. Was the financial barometer correct? What happened to Judas? We skip ahead to chapter 27. It's all too clear.
Vicki: It says early in the morning all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans on how to have Jesus executed. When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and he returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. I have sinned, he said, for I have betrayed innocent blood. What is that to us? They replied, that's your responsibility. So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and he hanged himself.
Kent: Wow.
Vicki: Yeah, wow. That's right.
Kent: Money is a barometer of our souls. It reveals the state of our relationship with God. And that as we notice these three different categories of people that responded differently to Jesus with their money, we get a glimpse into our own life. We see in the woman who in love anointed Jesus with priceless oil, extravagant love. And the disciples response who criticized her gift because it was not practical or utilitarian enough. Yeah, a lack of love for him. And in Judas selfish desire to take what others had and given for himself. He was a thief, an enemy of God. How could we be love givers like the woman who anointed Jesus? I think we have to reflect on the abundance of what God has given us. The woman was overwhelmed by the fact that that her Savior was going to die for her so she could have eternal life. Because of that, because of realizing the enormity of the gift that God had given, she was motivated to give all that she could to him. In response. I think we're wise to do the same thing. What has God given us? What has God blessed us with? In Ephesians 1, Paul says we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. He has chosen us. He's predestined us, he's adopted us. He has redeemed us. He has made known the mystery of his will to us. We have been marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit guaranteeing our inheritance.
Vicki: Wow.
Kent: That's amazing. God has. God's created a world. Doesn't your breath get taken away when you look at the beauty of creation?
Nathan: Oh yeah, we saw a. I was working on my sermon Saturday morning and it was 7:45 in the morning. I look out and There is a rainbow over the Hudson River.
Vicki: Oh, you posted that? It wasn't just a rainbow.
Nathan: Yeah, it was incredible. I'd never seen anything like it.
Vicki: So tell everybody what you saw.
Nathan: I showed my son who was playing video games with his friends online, and he stopped, and he's like, wow. And then he went back, but I had him watch his little brother. And I ran outside and got into a position and got soaked. But I got a picture of the rainbow going into the tower of the church that I minister in, and it was just incredible. It was up for about 20 minutes, which I've never seen a rainbow that vibrant.
Vicki: But you're not. It was a double rainbow.
Nathan: It was a double rainbow. You're right.
Vicki: Yeah, it was a double rainbow.
Nathan: Yeah, it was pretty incredible. And so much so online, on the local group pages, everyone's posting pictures of this rainbow. And just like, wow, look at. Look at what God's done.
Kent: God could have created a world made of nothing but cement. Ugly and brutal and gray.
Vicki: It could have all been gray.
Nathan: They're trying to do that in Staten Island, New York, but, you know, oh, grass. Pave it over. Pave paradise. Put up a parking lot.
Kent: So why did he make a place so beautiful, filled with amazing birds and animals and everything? Because he loves us. Because he made it for us to enjoy. He's given us his Holy Spirit. I mean, I look at the Old Testament, I see Samson and what he was able to do with this enormous power that God given him. That Holy Spirit is in each of us to empower us, to be with us, to strengthen us. He died to give us a church to belong to, a body of believers, to encourage us and help us. And what's waiting for us in eternity? Eternity. And do you wonder why John used all those metaphors of streets like gold and so on? Why did he use those metaphors? Because it's so beautiful. It's beyond human language to express. That's not only what he's given us, what he's going to give us. In response to that, I think if God has given to us beyond what we deserve because of his love, we should do the same. God is not selfish in his giving. God is not purely utilitarian in his giving. God is extravagant in his giving. May we learn to give like God gives extravagantly. Because money. Money is a barometer of our hearts. That's what we see in these three different ways of giving. In this passage, we learn that your money tells the truth.
Brian: Jesus died for us, the ultimate display of love. And how will people respond to that supreme gift? It will show up in how we use our money, and it will show up in three ways. Some will surrender everything they have to Jesus because they feel thankful and loved. These people truly appreciate what Jesus has done for them. Others will want to use their money practically. Even if they are in control of money that other people have given sacrificially, they will want to administer even that money practically. Still others will be so attached to money they will try to monetize their relationship with Jesus and use their position in the church to gain more money or more power or more attention instead of focusing on Jesus himself. We see from this passage, how we use money reveals who we are. Our money tells the truth about us. I trust that today's discussion of God's Word has been helpful and served as an encouragement to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers together. Let's bring God's Word to life, to our lives. This week, the crosstalk Podcast is a production of crosstalk Global, equipping biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more about this educational nonprofit organization, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. this summer, we're training biblical communicators in India and Kenya. Help us train the next generation by clicking Donate in the show notes and making a donation of any size. You can also support this show by rating it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're enjoying it. Be sure to listen next Friday as we continue our discussion of the Gospel of Matthew. You won't want to miss it.