Give it away, give it away, give it away now!
I live in an affluent area and pastor a mostly affluent and very generous people. Just how affluent are we really? Occupy Wall Street tells us that most Americans belong in the 99%. Maybe we do – in the US. But when we expand the survey population to include the world, we cannot escape that most of us (who earn just $49,000+/year) are the 1% (see http://www.globalrichlist.com/).
We know that giving away our money is important. Yet, we don’t talk about money that much. So, the pastoral team decided to preach about money to ourselves and to the congregation. I preached from Luke 12: The Parable of the Rich Fool.
A quick reaction to this parable is usually a resigned sigh: “Now Jesus wants us to stop planning for retirement…” But the question here is not, “Should we have retirement accounts?” In our particular time and place – Lancaster, Pa., in the year 2012 – we probably need something along those lines.
The question is, will we have a life to give to God when it is demanded? And money or goods and grains storage – or not – has something to do with it.
The rich man failed to see beyond himself, beyond the myth that accumulation was its own reward. He bought into a narrative about himself that told him he wasn’t complete until he had acquired overstuffed storage buildings. Jesus exposes that lie. He calls the man a “fool” and in one deft question, reminds the man of the “others” who could benefit from the goods and grains presently unavailable to them.
Jesus broke into a culture in which accumulation was lauded. But Jesus called that assumption into question. On his way to death on a cross, Jesus lived a life that exemplified his message: I came to give life. Abundant life!
God comes to fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. That is good news! The rich man can, empowered by the Holy Spirit and the strength of Jesus’ cross, get rid of his so-called problem of not having enough storage. He can empty his barns instead of filling them. He can fill up hungry people instead of barns.
The man’s life depended on it. It matters what we do with our money.
Recently, I had a good conversation with a young adult who grew up in the church and still thinks church is important, but does not claim to believe in or need God. Yet that young adult agrees that giving is important.
That made me wonder… Do we actually need Jesus’ parables and teachings to tell us to give away our excess money? There are studies that show us that the pleasure center of our brains lights up when we perform altruistic deeds. That’s solid, empirical evidence; no Bible necessary. It feels good to give money away.
The online tool that showed us our economic location compared to the world’s billions came from a secular charity in the UK. Its pleas for money and compassion were based on humanistic common sense.
In a previous blog entry on this site, Brian Gumm says that (some) Christians “happily believe in Jesus with our heads, while powers such as consumerism have successfully claimed the rest of our bodies.” What about those who practice giving their money away with their “bodies” but deny truth in Jesus’ message with their heads? If what we do with money really does have a spiritual impact – and I think God’s word is telling us it does – then might it be that the people behind that website who would not acknowledge Jesus, are actually closer (or as close) to the kingdom of heaven than a person who has accepted Jesus with mere mental assent, but allows every consumerist whim to guide his or her body?
What difference does it make when Christ followers talk about money?
When Jesus talks about money (or goods and grains), he talks about loss. To give money up really means to lose it. The rich man could not face this loss. The narrative he lived by told him that the goods and grains he accumulated were his life.
Jesus said no. That is no life. Through Jesus, God offers the alternative to empty death. It is a life of losing. Jesus said, you think that guarding your goods is the way to keep them. But God’s way to keep goods and grain is to give them away. You think that guarding your life will save it. But God’s way is to lose life.
Can you imagine a group of people coming together for the purpose of encouraging one another as we face loss together? It is the Body of Christ, practicing the Lord’s Supper, practicing the giving of tithes, offerings, and praises.
