Giving It All
Typically, when I'm reading the scriptures, I have two interpretations in mind. I have the interpretation that I see as I'm reading it. And I have the sort of dominant cultural theological interpretation in my head as well. Sometimes they're one and the same and there's no conflict in my head. Often times, the dominant theological position simply skews far too conservative, and its gotten that way by being read through centuries of people of wealth and power looking to the Bible for justification for that wealth and power.
Today is one of those much rarer occasions when the dominant theological position at hand comes from the other side of the spectrum, and that's where I find my conflict this morning.
Because from a progressive, liberal, whatever you want to call it, Christian perspective, this passage seems like pure gold.
Go! Sell everything you have, and give all the money to the poor!
For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
And that's often taken to mean: “Yeah! Stick it to the rich! Take it from those lazy fat cats and give it to people who need it!”
Well… Yes… and No.
We cannot discount this passage, or the many others, from the Sermon on the Mount to Jesus’s parables on Lazarus and the Rich Man, or the parable of the Great Banquet, which repeat over and over that our God does, in fact, have a special heart for the poor, the oppressed, the imprisoned, and the marginalized. God’s loving spirit for those who have less is what drives the Church’s sense of mission. It’s why we have clothing drives and food pantries, why we are urged to give of ourselves, freely and generously.
But as with anything else, context matters.
Because it's easy to love that line, that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
But we also need to read the verses that come after it.
Because after Jesus said those words, the disciples were astounded. And they asked, “who, then can be saved?”
To which Jesus answered, “For mortals it is impossible. But not for God. For God all things are possible.”
On our own merits, there is nothing that earns us the right to enter God’s kingdom.
Even if we did everything as Christ asked. If we sold every last one of our possessions, down to our last scrap of clothes, our last crumb of bread… if we gave everything away, donated everything to the poor… we would still not be worthy of heaven.
It’s what we Calvinists call “total depravity.”
Which is a super-fun name for something that actually makes a whole lot of sense.
You, me, every Christian in every church… we are all unable to merit the kingdom of God on our own.
We could try to live every second of every day in total devotion to God. We could do everything God asks of us. We could spend our whole days in prayer, and in service to God and our neighbors. We could give of everything we have and everything that we are. We could tend to the sick, visit with prisoners, open our homes to refugees… do every single thing that the Bible instructs us to do as good and faithful people of God.
And it would still not be enough.
Not because we’re inherently evil or because we ourselves are covered in some icky black tar we call “sin.”
But because we simply lack the tools.
We are mortal.
And our welcome into God’s kingdom is a gift of the divine.
At its heart, yes this passage reveals and reinforces Gods particular love for the poor, for the outcast, for the people that society has left behind. But more than that it shows that there are simply some things that we cannot do on our own. It tells us that there are some things out there, that for humans – any humans – rich or poor, black or white, male or female, old or young, blue-collar, white-collar, whatever… there are some things that are impossible for humans to manage.
Yet God can manage them.
“For mortals it is impossible,” Jesus says. “But not for God. For God all things are possible.”
So what we do we with this scripture, knowing that we need God, that we are utterly and totally dependent on God… yet, that God does have that special love in his heart for the poor?
Well… we do what the Bible tells us to do.
We give.
Most of us in this church, God has blessed with abundance. Maybe not $10million dollar mansion and 6 Lamborghinis in the garage abundance, but most of us have a certain degree of comfort in our lives.
Yet our neighbors, in this area.. in other parts of New Jersey… in other parts of our country… have far, far less than we do.
And having a poverty of resources negatively affects peoples’ lives in real ways.
I believe that many of us… we’ve been fed a myth; one that we like to believe.
One of my favorite Christmas stories was… still is, really… “A Christmas Carol.” You probably all know it; you’ve read the book, seen at least one of the many movies… for me I grew up on the 1985 version with George C. Scott playing the lead as Ebenezer Scrooge.
And the story is of mean old Mr. Scrooge, with more money than he knows what to do with, but he’s miserly and miserable, because he has no love in his life.
And the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future come and visit him on Christmas Eve, and during these visits he gets a glimpse into the life of his assistant, the over-worked and under-paid Bob Cratchit.
And he sees that even though Cratchit has very little money, he is far happier than Scrooge will ever be because he has a family and he has love in his life.
Which is a lovely sentiment.
But also, not very realistic.
Because we know all too well what happens when families are crushed by poverty, by debts, by financial burdens they can never escape.
It’s no coincidence that our country’s opioid epidemic is hitting our poorest counties the hardest.
It’s no coincidence that divorce rates are higher among people with less education and lower income.
It’s no coincidence that many families simply cannot survive the stress of hunger; of poverty; of bankruptcy.
When your situation is dire; when every day is painful to get through… it’s no wonder people turn to drugs. It’s no wonder people turn to alcohol. It’s no wonder that people self-medicate to get from one day to the next. And it stresses not just individuals, but families and communities.
When our God tells us that he is a God who loves the poor, it is because they need love the most. Sure there may be some Bob Cratchits out there, making love work with what they’ve got, even if they’ve got next to nothing – but it ain’t easy… and they’re certainly the exception. Not the rule.
God wants those of us who have a little more to have generous hearts. To give of our blessings, freely and joyfully. To give of what we have to those who need.
I want to end by reiterating those last few words.
Those who need.
Not those who deserve.
Not those who have already pulled themselves up by the bootstraps.
Not those who are already sober, have passed a drug test, or are living according to some arbitrary bar we set for morality.
Those who need.
When we follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are called into service of God, and of all people.
The Gospel doesn’t give us the privilege to discern between the deserving poor and the undeserving poor. If a person has need, even if we know deep down in our souls, even if every fiber of our being is screaming at us, that the dollar we give is just going to end up at the liquor store… God would still rather us give that dollar. Or five or twenty.
Because their salvation is not in our hands.
God doesn’t call us to judge. To sort the good poor from the bad poor. God doesn’t give us the tools to tell which empty stomach deserves a sandwich and which doesn’t.
Judgment is God’s job.
Giving is our job.
As much and as often as we can.
It’s a far less radically political vision of God than a great many of my colleagues would like to believe in. But a far more radically generous and demanding vision of God as well.
God is not out to punish the well-to-do among us. God has blessed us mightily. But it is up to us how we honor God with those blessings.
So let us be joyful with them. Let us give of them. And let us trust less in our own pockets, and more in what God has promised is possible through him. Amen.
Let us pray,
Holy Lord, we give you thanks for the many blessings of providence and abundance you have given each of us. Help us to overcome our own urge to judgment, and to trust in your wisdom; not our own. You have called us to love our neighbors, and tasked us with the giving of your blessings. Turn our hearts towards this calling, and make us joyful and generous stewards of your many gifts. For the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Typically, when I'm reading the scriptures, I have two interpretations in mind. I have the interpretation that I see as I'm reading it. And I have the sort of dominant cultural theological interpretation in my head as well. Sometimes they're one and the same and there's no conflict in my head. Often times, the dominant theological position simply skews far too conservative, and its gotten that way by being read through centuries of people of wealth and power looking to the Bible for justification for that wealth and power.
Today is one of those much rarer occasions when the dominant theological position at hand comes from the other side of the spectrum, and that's where I find my conflict this morning.
Because from a progressive, liberal, whatever you want to call it, Christian perspective, this passage seems like pure gold.
Go! Sell everything you have, and give all the money to the poor!
For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
And that's often taken to mean: “Yeah! Stick it to the rich! Take it from those lazy fat cats and give it to people who need it!”
Well… Yes… and No.
We cannot discount this passage, or the many others, from the Sermon on the Mount to Jesus’s parables on Lazarus and the Rich Man, or the parable of the Great Banquet, which repeat over and over that our God does, in fact, have a special heart for the poor, the oppressed, the imprisoned, and the marginalized. God’s loving spirit for those who have less is what drives the Church’s sense of mission. It’s why we have clothing drives and food pantries, why we are urged to give of ourselves, freely and generously.
But as with anything else, context matters.
Because it's easy to love that line, that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
But we also need to read the verses that come after it.
Because after Jesus said those words, the disciples were astounded. And they asked, “who, then can be saved?”
To which Jesus answered, “For mortals it is impossible. But not for God. For God all things are possible.”
On our own merits, there is nothing that earns us the right to enter God’s kingdom.
Even if we did everything as Christ asked. If we sold every last one of our possessions, down to our last scrap of clothes, our last crumb of bread… if we gave everything away, donated everything to the poor… we would still not be worthy of heaven.
It’s what we Calvinists call “total depravity.”
Which is a super-fun name for something that actually makes a whole lot of sense.
You, me, every Christian in every church… we are all unable to merit the kingdom of God on our own.
We could try to live every second of every day in total devotion to God. We could do everything God asks of us. We could spend our whole days in prayer, and in service to God and our neighbors. We could give of everything we have and everything that we are. We could tend to the sick, visit with prisoners, open our homes to refugees… do every single thing that the Bible instructs us to do as good and faithful people of God.
And it would still not be enough.
Not because we’re inherently evil or because we ourselves are covered in some icky black tar we call “sin.”
But because we simply lack the tools.
We are mortal.
And our welcome into God’s kingdom is a gift of the divine.
At its heart, yes this passage reveals and reinforces Gods particular love for the poor, for the outcast, for the people that society has left behind. But more than that it shows that there are simply some things that we cannot do on our own. It tells us that there are some things out there, that for humans – any humans – rich or poor, black or white, male or female, old or young, blue-collar, white-collar, whatever… there are some things that are impossible for humans to manage.
Yet God can manage them.
“For mortals it is impossible,” Jesus says. “But not for God. For God all things are possible.”
So what we do we with this scripture, knowing that we need God, that we are utterly and totally dependent on God… yet, that God does have that special love in his heart for the poor?
Well… we do what the Bible tells us to do.
We give.
Most of us in this church, God has blessed with abundance. Maybe not $10million dollar mansion and 6 Lamborghinis in the garage abundance, but most of us have a certain degree of comfort in our lives.
Yet our neighbors, in this area.. in other parts of New Jersey… in other parts of our country… have far, far less than we do.
And having a poverty of resources negatively affects peoples’ lives in real ways.
I believe that many of us… we’ve been fed a myth; one that we like to believe.
One of my favorite Christmas stories was… still is, really… “A Christmas Carol.” You probably all know it; you’ve read the book, seen at least one of the many movies… for me I grew up on the 1985 version with George C. Scott playing the lead as Ebenezer Scrooge.
And the story is of mean old Mr. Scrooge, with more money than he knows what to do with, but he’s miserly and miserable, because he has no love in his life.
And the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future come and visit him on Christmas Eve, and during these visits he gets a glimpse into the life of his assistant, the over-worked and under-paid Bob Cratchit.
And he sees that even though Cratchit has very little money, he is far happier than Scrooge will ever be because he has a family and he has love in his life.
Which is a lovely sentiment.
But also, not very realistic.
Because we know all too well what happens when families are crushed by poverty, by debts, by financial burdens they can never escape.
It’s no coincidence that our country’s opioid epidemic is hitting our poorest counties the hardest.
It’s no coincidence that divorce rates are higher among people with less education and lower income.
It’s no coincidence that many families simply cannot survive the stress of hunger; of poverty; of bankruptcy.
When your situation is dire; when every day is painful to get through… it’s no wonder people turn to drugs. It’s no wonder people turn to alcohol. It’s no wonder that people self-medicate to get from one day to the next. And it stresses not just individuals, but families and communities.
When our God tells us that he is a God who loves the poor, it is because they need love the most. Sure there may be some Bob Cratchits out there, making love work with what they’ve got, even if they’ve got next to nothing – but it ain’t easy… and they’re certainly the exception. Not the rule.
God wants those of us who have a little more to have generous hearts. To give of our blessings, freely and joyfully. To give of what we have to those who need.
I want to end by reiterating those last few words.
Those who need.
Not those who deserve.
Not those who have already pulled themselves up by the bootstraps.
Not those who are already sober, have passed a drug test, or are living according to some arbitrary bar we set for morality.
Those who need.
When we follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are called into service of God, and of all people.
The Gospel doesn’t give us the privilege to discern between the deserving poor and the undeserving poor. If a person has need, even if we know deep down in our souls, even if every fiber of our being is screaming at us, that the dollar we give is just going to end up at the liquor store… God would still rather us give that dollar. Or five or twenty.
Because their salvation is not in our hands.
God doesn’t call us to judge. To sort the good poor from the bad poor. God doesn’t give us the tools to tell which empty stomach deserves a sandwich and which doesn’t.
Judgment is God’s job.
Giving is our job.
As much and as often as we can.
It’s a far less radically political vision of God than a great many of my colleagues would like to believe in. But a far more radically generous and demanding vision of God as well.
God is not out to punish the well-to-do among us. God has blessed us mightily. But it is up to us how we honor God with those blessings.
So let us be joyful with them. Let us give of them. And let us trust less in our own pockets, and more in what God has promised is possible through him. Amen.
Let us pray,
Holy Lord, we give you thanks for the many blessings of providence and abundance you have given each of us. Help us to overcome our own urge to judgment, and to trust in your wisdom; not our own. You have called us to love our neighbors, and tasked us with the giving of your blessings. Turn our hearts towards this calling, and make us joyful and generous stewards of your many gifts. For the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.