Luke 17:11-19
Sometime in October all the churches I've ever served held the annual stewardship campaign. The last two I served used the membership vows to emphasize the importance of supporting the ministries of the church with our prayers, presence, gifts, and service (and now witness) with one of the aspects highlighted each October Sunday morning. The method was used as a way to lend practical opportunities for the ministry model each had chosen to provide church members a way to understand themselves as ministers. The model has been popularly known as "Every Member in Ministry." Several times I used this story in the Gospel of Luke to consider the commitment to give in our membership vows.
So, you have an advantage over the people sitting in the pews on the Sunday mornings when I offered my thoughts on the subject - you can close the blog. I often teased the congregation that it was too late in the service to leave and besides the ushers have locked the doors. It usually got the laugh I hoped for and opened the door for me to continue. So, in respect for those congregants who had to endure, how about sticking around for awhile to see how you feel about what gets written?
The truth of the matter is this is a Sunday that both preachers and the people in the pews alike dread. Dread may be a little strong, but we all definitely approach the day with some apprehension, maybe even a little fear of trembling. Most people in congregations feel that way because they're concerned that we preachers will say something that will make them uncomfortable, guilty about some recent purchase or lifestyle. We preachers are apprehensive because we wonder if it's possible for us to talk about money this one Sunday a year without being accused of only caring about money. We're concerned that people will stay away if they know we're going to talk about money or after they hear us talk about money.
In one of those churches we had a phone system that called everyone on Friday afternoon to entice people about Sunday morning's worship service and special activities. One year I confessed that I had considered not sending out the weekly message for fear some would stay away if they knew my planned Sunday morning topic. I remember one year meeting with a couple for a pre-marital counseling session. When they shared with me that they were planning on attending worship the Sunday I had scheduled to speak about money. I remember cringing, sort of apologizing, and then warning them about what my subject was going to be.
Then came the year after reading numerous articles about stewardship and commentaries on this scripture passage that the thought occurred to me that that's not the way we should be about our giving. It's certainly not the way Jesus intended us to be. Bible scholars share statistics that make it obvious that Jesus believed our attitude toward money is significant. They share things like: in sixteen of the twenty-nine parables Jesus told the subject matter was people and money/possessions; one out of every six verses in the books attributed to Matthew, Mark, and Luke deals with money; Matthew references it about 109 times, Mark 57 times, Luke 94 times and John 88 times. (1)
One writer illustrated the inappropriateness of our being uncomfortable about discussing money matters in church by likening it to a trip to the doctor for an annual check up. "You know the routine: the doctor pokes and prods and presses various places all the while asking things like: 'Does the hurt?' 'How about this?' And if we cry out in pain, one of two things are possible: either the doctor has pushed too hard, or, something's wrong. And if the doctor is sure what he or she did wasn't the cause of our pain, they will say something like: 'We'd better do some more tests.' 'It's not supposed to hurt there.'"
The writer went on to observe: "So it is when pastors preach on financial responsibility and certain members cry out in discomfort, criticizing the message and the messenger. Either the pastor has pushed too hard, or, there's something wrong. ANd in the event that there's something wrong we need to consider, 'We're in need of the great physician because it's not supposed to hurt there.'"
Talking about money in church shouldn't hurt, friends. We shouldn't be embarrassed when we do it; when we are challenged about our commitment to financially support the ministries of the church. I'd like to share with you three ideas that I think can help us rid ourselves of the hurt, the uncomfortableness, the concern about talking about giving.
The first one I'd offer happens after almost every national or international crisis/tragedy. What I observe after such sensational events is this outpouring of aid which suggests that it is easy to give - easy to solicit money from others - to dig deep and give that which we normally would not - what we normally would have rationalized we needed more ourselves - when we know the need - when we believe in what our money is going for - when we believe our money, together with lots of other people's money, is needed and will make a difference. The sense that we need every cent in our pockets, every dollar in our saving account - the being embarrassed about asking for money - to talk about giving - goes out the window when we are shocked with the reality of the enormous need.
While it's true that our giving to the local church pays for the salaries of the staff (pastoral, program, custodial, music, secretarial, etc.); and, while it's also true that our giving pays utility bills so it's comfortable when we attend church functions; and, while it's also true that those things pale in comparison to the needs of people most directly impacted by weather emergencies, acts of terrorism or gun violence, I would still want to suggest to you that our giving to the local church is vitally important. Giving through the local church enables (in the United Methodist denomination that I am part of) the church to be present immediately after such disasters through the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Our giving also enables people to be cared for in hospitals and nursing homes, enables food for the hungry, children to be cared for during worship services and other special activities involving parents. It enables food to be taken to persons after they've been hospitalized or after a baby has been born. It enables young people and adults from churches go to areas of need and improve the lives of those they go to minister with, and we could go on and on. I invite all of us to spend some time examining all the wonderful ministries our giving to the local church really makes possible. It doesn't need to hurt when we give to the church and it won't if we know the really important ministries our dollars are supporting and we believe in the things those dollars are supporting.
A second idea that I think could help us eliminate this uncomfortableness about talking about giving is our adopting the Biblical understanding of what we have and who we are. We have to believe this concept in our hearts and minds if we're really going to rid ourselves of our uncomfortableness when it comes to making decisions regarding our money and our possessions. Here it is: "Everything we have is God's - everything we have and are comes from God." It is ours as a trust from God. We are responsible for caring for it, for using it on behalf of God. We have been made "stewards" of portions of God's creation. God has gifted us with time, talent, money, skills, and we are responsible for what we do with what God gives us. I think the issue is framed quite nicely by the words of a W. Graham Scroggie: "There are two ways in which a Christian may view his or her money - 'How much of my money shall I use for God?' Or, 'How much of God's money shall I use for myself.'" (2)
I read it stated another way in the Joyful Noiseletter, one of my favorite newsletters, "When we place money in the offering plate, we are not really giving to the Lord. We are simply taking our hands off what already belongs to God." (3)
And in still another article written by James Howell, shown to me by a former associate, he offers: "In God's family, my money isn't mine: it belongs to God - not just some percentage I nobly bestow upon the Church, but all of it. This means not only that I must get deadly serious about giving to the Church; but also, that I begin to inventory all of my spending, asking if it makes sense in light of God's claim. How much of my spending is frivolous? Self-indulgent? If an archaeologist dug up my checkbook in a thousand years, what kind of person would she assume me to be? How much money is enough? And am I learning the sheer delight of generosity?" (4)
Friends, when we resolve that issue in our hearts, minds and guts, it's a whole lot easier to talk about giving and to actually give. "Everything we have and are is God's." It's a belief statement - it's a philosophy of life - it's a concept about how the world is ordered that we have to be at home with and live by. Believing it - ordering our lives by it - makes all the difference in the world.
Well, the final idea I want to consider is one that I think the scripture passage according to Luke about the ten lepers offers us: It's important for us to thank God for God's gifts. And one of the best ways to say thanks, is to give. Giving, in fact, is the voice of thanks. It's one of the best ways we have to let God know that we recognize that what we are and what we have are God's gifts and that we appreciate the honor of being entrusted to care for and use God's gifts.
Well, we're all fairly familiar with the story of the ten lepers: ten lepers approached Jesus as he entered a village between Samaria and Galilee. Like all lepers in Jesus' day, they were a desperate bunch. They were so desperate they didn't even give Jesus time to eat or drink. While leprosy has pretty much disappeared from our portion of the world, it still is a concern in India and parts of Africa and Asia. In Jesus' day though it was a terrible and terrifying disease. It could be present in a person for years before the physical symptoms appeared. It first appears as nodules on the surface of the skin. In time these nodules grew larger and larger until deep wrinkles covered the leper. Lips, noses, ear lobes grew very thick. Ulcerations were everywhere. Arms and legs sometimes became horribly mutilated. Fingers and toes sometimes disappeared. And sometimes blindness resulted.
But, the disease's cruelty was more than what it did to one's physical being. Leprosy was believed to be highly contagious, which we know today is not the case. But that was the belief in Jesus' day and so Jewish law banished lepers from the community, labeling them unclean. Lepers were considered outcasts. They had to beg for food. They often lived in caves outside the city. Everywhere they went people shouted "UNCLEAN!" "LEPER!" Sometimes people hurled stones at them.
Out of their desperation they risked approaching Jesus and pled their case: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" And Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests. Now, my guess is they were a little confused by Jesus' assignment since there was no evidence yet on their bodies that they were indeed healed and they needed to be rid of the disease in order for the priests would declare them clean. Nevertheless, they did as Jesus told them - they started on the journey to see the priests and lo and behold, it began to happen! Their decaying skin started to heal - clear up.
Imagine their joy - the excitement - their relief - the new lease on life that had to have filled the ten of them. All ten were healed, but only one went back and thanked Jesus. We're not offered any explanation in the text for this strange behavior on the part of the nine who failed to return to thank. Several years ago I read one person's creative reconstruction of a set of possible excuses for the other nine: perhaps one wanted to see if the cure was real - perhaps one waited to see if it would last perhaps one said he would see Jesus later - perhaps one decided that he never had leprosy in the first place - perhaps one said he would have gotten well anyway - perhaps one gave the glory to the priests - perhaps one thought that Jesus didn't really do anything anyway - perhaps one said, "Oh, I already really was much improved."
Well, perhaps some of those reasons were the reasons the nine didn't return, we really don't know. It might have been they just couldn't accept that they were really clean until the priests said they were - it might have been that they were so happy to be better that they couldn't wait to go and be reunited with their families. We really don't know. And apparently it's not important for us on our spiritual journeys because the writer of Luke doesn't offer us any clues. But the writer does have some more to tell us about the one who did return and fell all over Jesus thanking him.
The author of Luke informs us that as a result of the former leper's offer of thanks Jesus said, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well." Literally, "made well" means "has saved you." Jesus was basically saying to the thankful Samaritan leper that it was his faith - his attitude of gratitude - that not only made him physically well but also spiritually. His voice of thanks revealed to Jesus the changed nature of his soul.
Martin Luther once said that three conversions are what is necessary in a person: the conversion of the heart, the conversion of the mind, and the conversion of the purse. I think Martin Luther was correct. The questions we probably ought to ask ourselves are these: Is my pocketbook, my purse, my billfold converted? Do I honor God with the way I dole out my money? Is there evidence that I treat all my money and my possessions as God's? (5) Does my giving reflect my relationship with God?
Brothers and sisters, our giving is our voice of thanks. We give because God gives us the resources to meet the needs of our world. We give because God has first given to us. We give because all that we have is God's. We give because we are thankful and because it is a mark of our salvation.
Rev. Felix A. Lorenz, Jr., Joyful Noiseletter, October, 2004, p. 4.
W. Graham Scroggie.
Lorenz, Jr., Joyful Noiseletter, p. 4.
James Howell, eFaith Reflections @www.mpumc.org, Shape of the Christian Life Series.
Ibid.
No comments:
Post a Comment