So outside of Jesus coming to church, having Bill Gates show
up might just be the second highest grossing ticket of all time. Now as a regular member, you know the
offering plate is going to get passed right by Bill. What will he do? What will you? Will he put in an envelope marked with a
charitable contribution for the assorted ministries your church needs to
fund? Do you put in your envelope? And when was the last time you were even here
anyway, pre-covid, maybe years before that.
And back in those days, what were your giving practices. Cause if you happened to be sitting near Bill
when he shows up, you might be putting in an envelope just to show Bill that
you are a generous person. He’s not
likely to hire you for a job at a charitable foundation if you can’t be
bothered giving to charity. But if you
give big, that might just impress him and land you a spot of your dreams.
Now if the offering plate comes to Bill, you kind of expect
him to fund everything. He has the
money. He has so much money, he could
personally fund your church for 100 years and not even get out of pocket
change. You don’t. You have bills to pay, a mortgage to keep up
with, the loss of one income already due to this pandemic. You have kids you are trying to feed. You know, responsibilities. And you reason that God must understand all
this and not have very high expectations of your giving, cause you know, God
has not done much to insure you had spare cash to give. But that is where this whole parable begins
to hit a little close to home. How much do
you have to give? And how much of that
are you willing to give? Bill can give
anything. If he gives nothing we all
sneer at his selfishness, for having so much and choosing to give none of
it. This is why we take up offerings
before the sermon, or even the music, so people are not offended before they
give. Hit em right up front, then there
are no excuses about what they heard or saw.
If Bill with all his money chooses not to give, we collectively call him
selfish. Does not matter that he gives
in other venues; he did not give in ours, therefore selfish. And we are all wrong. But worse, we refuse to look in the mirror
and ask that same question, especially while Bill is at services and could
solve our church’s problems in one go.
But back to me and you.
With all that is going on, we figure God can’t expect too much of us, at
least not yet. Once we get our income
under control, once we get our taxes paid, our bills normalized, our mortgages
up to date, maybe then, yup, only then, could we ever think about giving what
we know we probably should. And Jesus
watches all of us. He watches Bill. But He is also watching all the “rich” folks
at our church, and all the “working” folks at our church. He knows what we are all going though. But He even watches the “poor” folks at our
church. Now as for the poor, you and I
expect nothing from them. Cause they do
not have anything to offer (at least not monetarily). If anything, the money we are giving should
be going to help the poor, which very well might be some of our fellow church
members. Surely God does not expect them
to give. God expects us to give to them.
And then there is homeless man Pete. Pete never smells very good. He does not have regular access to a shower
or a place to wash his clothes, so you can imagine he probably would not smell
very good. Pete knows it. He is very self-conscious about it. So when Pete comes to church he sits in the
very last pew on the side closest to the door, hoping as the door opens and
shuts, it will carry some of his odor outside the sanctuary and refresh the air
he is making foul by his presence. Pete
is usually hungry. No one is willing to
hire Pete because they assume he is mental, or lazy, or they just don’t want to
smell him. So Pete is never sure when he
going to eat again. Pete is not just
poor, he is uber poor, he is broke, and has nothing. On occasion, someone takes pity on Pete and
hands him a dollar at a traffic stop.
Most folks think this makes Pete secretly rich. It doesn’t.
Never enough for a hotel, thus the shower problem. Barely enough for a single meal, once and a
while, always eaten outside, cause no one will seat him. This is his life. Today when all the attention is on Bill
attending services, Pete just quietly takes a place as far out of sight as
possible. When the offering plate last
stops at Pete, he fumbles around in his pockets and finds 2 dollars. He gives it.
It is all he has. It means he
will not eat today. He reasons God will
provide. He reasons God can use Pete’s
own money for the truly poor. Pete does
not think of himself as poor, because Pete knows even if nobody else loves him,
Jesus loves him. And that is enough for
Pete.
I ask you. Who in
this parable loves Jesus? Does Bill? Would any amount of money be able to show you
that Bill loves Jesus, or would you just expect him to give more? Do you?
Could someone look at your financial priorities and easily see that you
love Jesus by how you give? Does Pete? Pete gave far less than anyone else in
church, he always does. In Pete’s whole
life he will never give as much as you could in a single week. And if the only reason you ever do give is to
be a key part of the “show” at church, you’re doing it wrong. Giving is not about how much God asks. God asks the same of everyone, ten percent of
our increase, and offerings over that as we see fit. What we give back then is a choice, why we
make that choice is as important as what we wind up giving because of it. Luke records the parable of a desperate widow
going to the Mega church of her day. It
opens the 21st chapter right up front in verse 1 saying … “And he looked
up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.” Jesus was at Temple. And the show had already started. A parade of rich men dropping large, and more
importantly loud, gold coins in the collection bucket at the rear of the
building.
Que the lights.
Stream the production. The parade
has started. It is the rich of His day
making an absolute show of just how generous each of them is. Funds acquired not through the blessing of
God mind you, but through the abuse of others, chiefly the poor. But hey look, they are giving back in large,
loud, measure. For all to see, so to
speak. Let all behold the magnanimity of
me, and what a generous guy I must be.
Spotlight over here please. God
are you watching? I have bills you know,
I could keep all these coins and be richer myself. But no, I am giving them over publicly, in
order to set a good example, to You.
Given my generosity, everyone around should be holding me in high
regard. This is how it is done. This is why I matter. This is why I am the most important person in
this church. Without me, funding dries
up to nothing. Look, look, everyone and
give me at least an approving nod. As
for you God, you better be paying attention.
And God is.
Luke continues in verse 2 saying … “And he saw also a certain poor widow
casting in thither two mites. [verse 3] And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in
more than they all: [verse 4] For all these have
of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury
hath cast in all the living that she had.” What Bill Gates gives is between he and
God. As what these rich men give was
also between them and God, even though it was the public spectacle and
recognition they craved even more than their own money. What this widow gave was also between she and
God. But God was watching. And God used her love for Him, as an example
of what giving everything means. Widows
were more at risk back then, than mythical homeless Pete in our parable would
be today. My question is why does it
always seem to be those most destitute of the wealth of this world, those who
need that wealth the most, who always wind up being the ones who most willing
part with it back to God. They give
without fanfare, most of them embarrassed at low their numbers are, while
giving everything they have to offer.
Not all widows were old.
Some lost husbands in the prime of life.
Some still had small children to take care of. We do not know what else this widow was
responsible for, what other bills, or needs she was supposed to cover
financially. We just know that in spite
of anything else, she put God first in her heart and gave everything she
had, It was not to be noticed. She would have been embarrassed to be
compared with the sound of large gold coins falling endlessly into the bucket
from the rich who seemed to never stop.
But God noticed. And God zoomed
in on her heart, and the hearts of us all.
Bill Gates has never been to my church.
And while he is ever invited, I sometimes wonder if by not coming he
saves my fellow parishioners from relying upon his generosity to cover their
own lack of it. To cover my lack of it. If we all
see ourselves as poor as widows then so be it, but can we all have her spirit
of giving as well? Can we all have her
trust to give in spite of our other pressing concerns?
I doubt that widow ever became rich. At least not in this world. But I will bet she knew more about love than
most of us ever will. I will bet she
will be chief in heaven among the millions of servants of God. And so she should. For His love for her was not about how much
she gave, but about how much she loved, how much she trusted. Can we call ourselves Christians, and
continue to do less, rationalize more, and leave ourselves empty because of
it? I would ask, who is truly homeless, and
who is just here for the show?
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