Jesus and Generosity- Rev. Wendy McCormick- Oct 27,2024
A dear friend in a church I once served came to Bible study one day troubled about this story -- or another one like it, I forget. The fact is there are several passages of the New Testament that talk about giving away everything, selling everything, and following Jesus. When it comes to what the Bible says about giving our money, we usually think of the Old Testament teaching about the tithe – the tenth portion – which calls on God’s people to dedicate the first 10% of everything they earn to God, to give it away for the good of others, for equity in the community. Presbyterians love to parse this teaching – does it mean10% of the gross or 10% of the net, does it all have to be what you give to the church or does it include all your charitable giving? Never met a Presbyterian who thinks Churches should enforce or even expect that tithe, that 10%, hard to find any who even thinks we should teach about it.
It’s a good principle, I think, to consider what we share in proportion to what we have. But the point today is that as much conversation as there has been around this Old Testament teaching of the tithe, this friend in my Bible study was the first one I can recall to seriously raise questions about what the New Testament teaches about sharing, about giving. If we are uncomfortable with the Old Testament saying it should be 10%, how much more uncomfortable must we be with the New Testament and specifically Jesus saying all. 100%. There’s even a story in the book of Acts about a couple who are struck down dead when they hold back giving absolutely everything they have.
Never had anybody wonder if we’re meant to take the New Testament seriously on this question until that one day at Bible study. My friend was a retired schoolteacher. She had always been single, and she had worked hard and planned -- to make sure she could always take care of herself, save enough to prepare for all manner of rainy day and have enough to last to the end of her life, to make sure she would never be a burden to anyone else.
How could Jesus think she should sell everything, give everything away. What would she do then, she wondered. Go on welfare. Be a burden.
It would be easy to say with many comfortable Christian leaders through the centuries, don’t worry, he doesn’t really mean that. You’re good, Mary. Bible times were different.
But before we just walk away from this subject, the fact is that Jesus talks about money and possessions a lot. A lot. He does not talk about science or human sexuality or the value of other religions or any of a number of other contemporary debates he gets invoked on. But Jesus does talk about money and possessions. A topic that many individual Christians, including many preachers, are really uncomfortable with. Why doesn’t Jesus talk more about the things we want to talk about? Why doesn’t Jesus mind his own business?
Why indeed.
The story doesn’t start out about money and possessions. And in fact Jesus doesn’t initiate the conversation at all. It’s the protagonist in the story, described in this version simply as a man (in other gospels he is called a rich young ruler, but here just a man, a guy, perhaps an anonymous everyman.) He comes and kneels before Jesus to ask help with his problem. What must I do to inherit eternal life?
You might ask the question differently: How do I get into heaven? How do I find spiritual fulfillment? How do I become a part of the abundant or eternal life Jesus offers which begins now and lasts forever? You might ask how do I make a meaningful life? Or what can I do about that gnawing feeling that work and family and nice vacations and a comfortable life still leave me with a kind of empty feeling inside, a kind of “what is the point of it all” feeling.
This man approaching Jesus is looking for something. At the very least, reassurance. They have this little exchange about keeping the commandments. Where does that spiritual fulfillment, that abundant life in the here and now and for forever, where does it come from? Like the guy in our story, we are here because we believe it has something to do with the practice of our faith. Worship, prayer, study of the scriptures, keeping the commandments.
I’m doing it all, the man says to Jesus, since my youth. Following the commandments – we might say, being a good person, treating other people the way we want to be treated, faithful worship attendance, volunteering, and of course turning in one’s pledge card in on time. But it is apparently not enough. Something is missing.
And then this cool thing happens. Jesus looks at him – really looks at him. Mark says, Jesus looked at him and loved him. In fact, this man is the only person in the gospel Mark explicitly tells us Jesus loved.
Pretty powerful. Jesus is coming from a place of love, not a place of judgment or critique. Compassion for this man and his apparent sincerity about his question, about the need he experiences and the reassurance he seeks. Compassion for that empty place he evidently feels that has drawn him to Jesus.
Jesus says, “you lack one thing.” You lack one thing. It’s so ironic, because we quickly find out that the dude lacks nothing. Jesus doesn’t say, you lack one thing, and here’s what it is, you lack X.
He says, “you lack one thing. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven, and then come follow me.”
So he asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. And in this sort of indirect way, Jesus says not that he lacks eternal life but that he lacks treasure in heaven. Not clear if they are the same. Maybe but maybe not. Treasure in heaven is about values, isn’t it? About priorities. It’s not about where you will spend eternity, but where your heart is in the here and now . . . where your treasure is, there your heart will be, is how Jesus puts it in Matthew.
And our anonymous friend can’t do it. For him, it’s a bridge too far. He is shocked and goes away grieving, Mark says, because he had many possessions. He is shocked. As the story continues, the disciples standing by are shocked too, and there’s a whole other conversation that follows. In the time of Jesus as for many people today, wealth was seen as a sign of blessing, a sign of God’s favor. How could treasure in heaven be about divesting? He’s shocked. He goes away. What does he lack? He lacks for nothing in worldly terms. But he feels an internal lack, a spiritual lack that brough him to Jesus. He calls it eternal life. Jesus calls it treasure in heaven. But he can’t imagine it, even for the promise of treasure in heaven, for the promise of eternal life.
He keeps the commandments, so he’s almost surely a tither. But something is missing.
Over the years both as a believer and as a pastor, I have become really curious about generosity, about what makes some people generous and others not so much. I know that it doesn’t have to do with how wealthy people are. Generous people, like ungenerous people, exist at all income and wealth levels. So from time to time I ask generous people about it – how did you become generous? What makes you generous? What can the rest of us learn from you? I first thought if I could glean some principles from generous people, I could get better at teaching others to be more generous. Not just to benefit the church with more resources, though that would be good. But to benefit people themselves. Generosity is a spiritual gift. Being generous feels good. Many generous people experience that spiritual fulfillment Jesus calls treasure in heaven. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.
I can tell you that talking with generous people is wonderful and moving and inspiring. But I’ve never found it to yield much in the way of that how-to guide I wish I had. Some generous people have no explanation at all. One person literally said, “I have no idea how to answer your question.” Some generous people say, “It’s just what you do.” You give all you can. You see needs and fill them. It’s just what you do.
Sometimes generous people talk about the cause they’re passionate about – like the ministry and mission of the church or the children of Haiti or making sure every kid at their neighborhood school gets breakfast and lunch every day. And they get really excited talking about that passion. We’ve heard from some of them this month in our Blessed to Be a Blessing campaign, sharing their passion about what different aspects of this church and its ministry mean to them.
But sometimes generous people talk not about the cause but just about the joy they feel in giving. Joy in helping, joy in making a difference, and literally joy in giving it away. It’s so much fun, someone said to me not long ago. It’s so much fun to be able to give. We don’t need it. We have enough. And the delight on their faces said it all. They don’t do it for a plaque or even a thank-you, not for a controlling interest in the organization, they aren’t building a legacy or a name for themselves. It’s just delight.
I think this is something of what Jesus is getting at when he talks about treasure in heaven, when he points out to this man that for all that he has, he actually lacks. This person is like so many of us who lack nothing, and he is exposed by Jesus – perhaps we are too -- to lack one thing. He lacks generosity. And he is offered a how-to. Give it away. All of it.
Meeting the religious requirements – even those for sharing and generosity – isn’t enough. He is still encumbered. Maybe what he hangs onto is just too important to him, it’s his treasure, so he can’t experience treasure in heaven. Maybe he meets the letter of the law but lacks generosity of heart and spirit.
The Bible says all. Give it all. Not so that people like my friend will become destitute dependents. But I think it says all to stop us from parsing how much is enough in a legalistic way, from trying to find a rule we can follow or a box we can check to satisfy ourselves. God wants all of our commitment, all of our hearts and lives. Treasure in heaven, eternal life, spiritual fulfillment, is to live so connected with Jesus in the here and now as to be unencumbered by the things of this world. And there’s no formula for that, for how much baggage each of us needs to shed, how much money and stuff we need to give away, to get there.
But the principle is generosity. All-in generosity. Share with the poor. Share big time. Not from your excess but from your corpus. Economic disparity then and now is real. What you lack Jesus says, is sharing, what you lack is generosity. Not a few canned goods at Christmas but serious sharing, the kind you feel, the kind that changes how much you have left. And for this man it is – as it would be for many of us – it is a bridge too far. And he goes away sorrowful, discouraged.
This individual does not reappear. We don’t know what happened to him. But we’re still here, perhaps still wondering about our own desire for more fulfillment, more joy, more of a connection to God and what God is doing in the world. And we are being invited by Jesus to consider that it’s related to our own money and possessions, our own generosity.
Jesus understands that for all but the very poorest of the poor, money and possessions are often the obstacle to the fulfillment, the spiritual life, the abundance, the eternal, the treasure we seek. Like this man, it’s not just that we have possessions, but, as the saying goes, that they have us. In another place, Jesus talks about the more stuff you have, the more barns you have to build to keep it all in reminding us that the more we have, the more energy and attention it takes to manage it and protect it and save it and take care of it.
The answer – if there is an answer – is generosity. Perhaps it is more of a path than an answer. The kind of generosity that makes a difference not only for the receiver – the poor – but for the giver – the one who has the problem in the first place.
We too are loved by Jesus in our sincere longing to live lives that are more meaningful, to live lives that feel closer to God. There are lots of religious practices that help. And in this little story about an unnamed, unsatisfied man, perhaps Jesus says the greatest of these is generosity.
Our lesson ends there. We stop when he guy walks away. Because at this point the ball is left in our court. What do we lack? What do we seek? Where your treasure is there your heart will be. Amen.
