Tithing and faithful stewardship in the
church is difficult to talk about. It's difficult to talk about
because finances are very personal and our finances are often
uncomfortably stretched thin. Between taxes, mortgages or rent,
bills, groceries, and other random expenses, it is hard to think
about giving 10% of your wages to the church. It's hard to think
about giving 5% of your wages. It is hard for me to talk about
tithing because 40% of the church's budget goes to my salary.
Likewise, it is hard to talk about giving your extra time to the
church. Not only do we value our finances, we value our time. Each of
us have busy lives that include more than waking up and going to work
and going home. Families are constantly stretched with activities for
their kids and church events end up in competition for the kids'
attention with sports, school activities, and other extra-curricular
activities. Time is a valued commodity just as is our money.
But is our time
and money really ours?
Jesus is teaching in the temple and as
he taught, he tells the crowd to beware of the scribes, who like to
walk around in the finest suits, and to be greeted with respect at
the local associational meeting. And to have the best seats at
banquets and the prime television time slots. They devour the houses
of the widows and elderly and for the sake of appearance run ads in
local papers telling you of their upcoming revival and which
candidate they are endorsing. They will receive greater condemnation.
He sits down opposite the treasury, and
watched the crowds putting money in. Many of the wealthy put in large
sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are
worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly
I tell you this poor widow has put in more than all those who are
contributing to the budget. For all of them have given out of their
wealth; but she has given out of her poverty, giving everything she
had, all she had to live on."
In A Million Miles in a Thousand
Years, Donald Miller recalls a
very similar story. Don had a signed up to bike across America (from
Los Angeles, CA to the east coast in Delaware) to raise money and
awareness for clean water in Africa. During his trip, he stopped a
convenient store to get a coke and take a short rest before
continuing his ride. As he paid for his drink, the young lady behind
the counter asked him why he was doing what he was doing. He told her
about the project and she reached into her pocket and handed him a
$20 bill. Don walked outside and fell asleep on the bench, when he
woke up he heard the young lady talking to another customer. She
lamented about her car being repossessed and Don realized she had
given him the last of her money.
Jesus makes the
observation that the woman has given more because she has given out
of what she does not have. She gives out of her poverty, meaning,
what we see as ours she sees as a gift. Jesus is neither condemning
the wealthy or glorifying the poor, he is simply making the
observation of who is giving more than whom. Jesus is not making a
statement about sacrificial giving; instead he is making the
observation that there is a difference between those who give out of
what they have and those who give out of what they do not. There is a
difference between giving out of our wealth than there is giving out
of our poverty. There is a difference between worshiping in humility
than in boasting.
We normally give
out of our wealth; in other words we give out of what we have. We pay
our taxes first, our bills second, groceries third, and then maybe we
think about giving to the church what we have left, if we can spare
it. Many churches face difficult budget crises every year. Most of
the time the budget crisis is over the giving being down. Rarely a
church takes the time and see why the giving is down; normally they
react and immediately start cutting items in the budget and like most
arts programs in a school budget, the children, youth, and associate
ministers become victims of the cuts.
Now, if the church
took a moment to look at the numbers and explore the reason why
giving is down they would find numerous reasons ranging from
unemployment, unexpected expenses, medical bills, withholding their
tithe because they are mad at the pastor, etc. We would find that the
problem is affected by a variety of circumstances and the solution to
the crisis is not cuts but responsible spending and use of the
budget.
What does all this
budget talk have to do with the widow? Everything because it raises
the question: what are the people giving to? Why should they give a
portion of their income to the church? Because God says so? Because
they can use it as a tax write off? I've been around church long
enough to know that neither of those are strong enough reasons for
people to give. I've been around church long enough to know that when
it comes to our money and our time we see it as that, ours. Which in
some ways is funny because I bet if we asked each other about this
church or our neighbors about their church, they would begin by
saying, “My church” or “Our church”. So, we see the church as
ours as well but is it really ours? Is our time and wealth really
ours. What's that phrase that got a lot people riled up over the
summer: You didn't build it.
Our wealth, our
time, our church, everything we have is not ours if we are
Christians. Instead they belong to God and God's people. The early
church seemed to understand the reality of their situation and
understood that the gifts they had among themselves were gifts to be
shared. The reason none went without, as Acts reports, is because
each member of the community cared for the other by giving not only
their wealth but their time. They used creative ways to give to the
church whether it was by hosting a missionary, an apostle, or by
selling a piece of land and giving the proceeds to the church. They
valued what they were giving to. They understood what they had not to
be theirs. It was a gift.
All that we
receive in this life is a gift and gifts are to be shared. The rich
man, Luke's parable, is only called a fool because he hoarded his
gifts and thought only of himself. He placed his hope in materials
and wealth instead of placing his hope in God. Faithful Christian
community is only faithful if we share, care, and love another.
Again, what does
this have to do with the widow?
The widow's
faithfulness in her giving is not sacrificial because she gives what
remains or all she has. Her faithfulness is in her gift to God
because what she has does not belong to her. She sees it as a gift
given to her by God not something that she's earned. Our money and
time are things that we did not earn. True, we may have worked for it
but is it not God who created the trees that are cut down and turned
into paper on which our money is printed? Is it not God who placed
the silver, copper, and gold in the ground that we mine to place our
engravings images on? Is it not God who continually provides with the
air we breath? Is it not God who gave us the animals and vegetables
to eat? Is it not someone else who pays you for the work you do? And
is it not God who has really provided you the skills for that job? Is
it not God who has provided you employment or a source of income? If
our answer is yes then all belongs to God.
I
have long struggled with this concept of professional ministry. I do
not call ministering a living or a profession. It is a way of life, a
calling if you will. I would still do this even if I did not get paid
for it. I have struggled with the living many of us make because the
money does not come from a corporation or a bank but from you. I
cannot say that my house is my house because it belongs to you. I
cannot say that my car is my car because it is paid for by you. I
cannot say claim any food or clothing purchased to be purchased by me
because it comes from your tithes. My vacations, my comic books,
anything I purchase is not purchased by my money because my money
comes from you. It is your gifts every Sunday that my family and I
live off of.
My junior year
high school, I had a breakthrough, life changing moment during a
track meet. I finally won the 1600m and I won it at the final
district track meet. Myself and two of my other teammates finished 1,
2, and 3, securing the district championship. After the race my
friend who finished second said that he let me win. I was furious
that implied that he was better than me. I didn't understand that it
didn't matter who won but that we all won. I didn't see what he did
for me as a gift but eventually I did. I do now.
The following
Sunday I gave the church the medal. I went down during the invitation
time, laid the gold medal at the 'altar' and went back and sat down.
The pastor eventually returned to it me after the service saying it
wasn't necessary; but my understanding in giving it to the church was
not about returning it to God but sharing the accomplishment with my
church family past, present and future. The clouds of witnesses as
the scriptures say. Interestingly enough, it took this passage to
remind me of that memory.
The widow offers
us a better reality than the one we are living. She offers us a
glimpse into what it means to be a part of the kingdom of God where
all our treasures are and where there are no moths and no thief will
be break in and steal it. The widow is our window into the kingdom of
God; she is our example of what it means to live as followers of
Christ and what she shows is us is the complete opposite of
capitalism or socialism.
Our
budget, our monies, our time, our lives are gifts from God and how
use them says a lot about what we believe. But once we find the
center of our life to be Christ and the center of our hearts are
focused on him, we are then able to fully offer ourselves to another.
Our defenses are taken away since we are no longer protecting or
defending what is ours; instead we are able to say, “Please
enter—my house is your house, my joy is your joy, my sadness is
your sadness, and my life is your life.” We have nothing to defend
since we have nothing to lose but all to give.1
This leads us to
ask, “Is what we are about worth the time, energy, and money people
are giving to?” Are we being good stewards by using their gifts
wisely? For that question we'll have to wait until next week, same
bat-time, same bat-channel. Until then let us seek to place our faith
in Christ and see others as a gift and all that we've been given as a
gift. May we be free to give the gift to others in return.
1 Nouwen, Henri. “Hospitality” Show Me the Way. The Crossroads Publishing Company, 1992 pg 31
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