Rooted In Love

A lot of parishes are getting ready for that "joyful" season that we called Stewardship.  Very seldom do we ministers get a kick out of talking about money, but we also recognize the necessity for it.  Not only is money important for keeping the heat or lights on in the church building, but it is also a mandate of the Church.  All that we have comes from God, and so we offer a portion of what we have right back to God, so that the Church--that body which is the hands, feet, and heart of God in this world--may use it to God's honor and glory and for the work of the Kingdom.

Where we get in trouble, however, is when we equate money with blessings.  If you give more to the Church, then your life will be a greater blessing.  That's what we hear far too often in this day and age. Recently, I spent time with a woman who came into my office seeking some help with some bills.  Through her tears she prayed, "I've been a good person, so why is God punishing me and my family?  Other people are blessed by God.  Why not me?"

Perhaps, I said, God doesn't work that way.  The story from Scripture that came to mind as we sat and prayed was what we often call The Widow’s Mite.  The story appears in Mark & Luke and goes like this: Jesus, sitting across from the treasury, watches a rich man place a large amount of money in the alms basin, thanking God for blessing him with abundance,  unlike the worthless sinners whom God has cursed.  Just then a poor woman puts in two copper coins, which Mark tells us equal a penny.  Jesus’ response to this act of gratitude is, “This poor widow has put in more than all these…she has put in everything she had, her whole living.” (Mark 12: 43-44, Luke 21: 3-4)

This is a miraculous moment.  Beautifully, it is not Jesus who performs said miracle; rather it is the poor widow.  A woman who has, seemingly nothing, offers all that she possesses.  This is not done in an attempt to be praised by anyone, or because someone hounded her and made her feel guilty, or because she thinks she is going to get some kind of grand blessing out of it in the form of material possessions.  She offers what she does out of her love for God, out of a sense of honor and respect for what God has commanded her to do.  And that, especially in our day and age, is truly miraculous!

In an age when we are told we need more, where the woman came to me in tears because her lack of money was, for her, a sign of God's displeasure with her, we need to hear this story.  The so-called Prosperity Gospel, which is preached far too loudly, tells us that if we give SOME money then God will bless us with MORE money (or some other treasure). This is simply poor theology, and it treats our giving as some sort of contract with God, that if we do our part, God will bless us even more.  But what happens when we give and give and God doesn't reward us with a new house or car? And what of the widow?  She does not give with the hope of attaining, rather she gives because that is what God has called her to do.  It is this same kind of giving of the self that we are still called to model today. 

New Testament scholar Preston Epps once wrote: “The Kingdom of Man says ‘get and accumulate,’ while the Kingdom of God says ‘give and share.’”  The widow is not concerned with the getting; instead, it is the Kingdom of God with which she is concerned.  When we give of ourselves, whether it be time, talent, or treasure, we are giving for the growth of the Kingdom of God. 

We can learn from this woman’s example of giving in a world that often tells us otherwise. We can learn that, to borrow the words of St. Francis, “it is in giving that we receive.” For when we give out of love we do so prayerfully, carefully, in deep conversation with God.  It is all rooted in love.  God is not bound by our world's standards, which tell us that we have to have more to be worth anything (just look at our unhealthy obsession with celebrities).  God loves us simply because we are God's children. Thus, when we root our lives in love--rather than a false gospel of prosperity--we give of our selves, our time, our talent, and our treasure.  Our lives are then built on a foundation that cannot ever be shaken. It is then that we get glimpses of the Kingdom.  And it is then that miracles happen.