Texts: Ruth 3:1-5,4:13-17; Psalm 127; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44
This is going to be a hard conversation for us to have. We need to talk about money, and I know that no one enjoys these talks. But it must be done. Not only because this is our stewardship season, when we need to gather commitments from each other so that we can plan our expenses for next year, but also because the Gospel story of the poor widow’s offering demands that we re-evaluate how we relate to money.
Each one of us has a relationship to money which needs to be measured in light of what Jesus teaches us.
Completely tired and worn out and unprepared, Dr. Campolo nonetheless headed right over to this meeting. The woman who was leading the event spoke to the group about a wonderful doctor working in the barrios of Caracas, Venezuela. This missionary doctor could not handle the large numbers of sick and infirm who came to her for help, and so she was requesting help with $5000 in order to build an addition to her medical facility. The leader of the meeting then asked, “Dr. Campolo, would you please lead us in prayer that the Lord might provide the $5000 needed by our sister in Venezuela?”
Before he could catch himself, Tony responded and said, “No! I will not. But what I will do is take all of the cash that I am carrying and put it on the altar. And I’m going to ask everyone else here to do the same. No need to write out checks! Let’s only put up our cash. After we’ve all put our cash on the altar, I will count it. Then I’ll ask God to make up the difference.” It was good timing for Tony, because he only had $2.25 in his pocket!
The leader of the event smiled benevolently and said, “We’ve all gotten the point now, haven’t we?” Tony responded, “No! I don’t think that we have. My $2.25 is on the altar, now it’s your turn!” She was obviously annoyed and taken aback by his aggressive request, but she opened her wallet and pulled out $110 which she placed on the altar along with Tony’s meager offering. “Well, we’re on our way!” Tony said. “We have $112.25. Now it’s your turn!” And he pointed to a woman sitting in the front pew, who looked around, a bit unsure about what to do, but finally she came up to the altar and made her cash offering. One by one, Tony was able to cajole the women into making this offering. It took about 25 minutes for this process, and after they all had come forward, the cash was counted. They had collected more than $8,000!
There wasn’t any time left for Tony to preach then, and they probably did not want to hear from him anyway, being quite annoyed with him now. So he simply said, “The audacity of asking God for $5000, when He has already provided us with more than $8000 right here! We should not be asking God to supply our needs. He already has!”
There are 2 kernels of truth that I hope we can gain from this story. The first is the perspective of trust in the goodness of God. The truth, my friends, is that God has indeed already provided for us. We are not given insight into the poor widow’s motivation for offering her 2 copper coins, but I don’t think it is reaching too far to think that she felt gratitude for God’s care over the years. This much we do know: God protected her, and cared for her and brought her along until this day in the Temple. Widows were extremely vulnerable in that society, but God had cared for her so far.
The same is true for us. We are not a poor people! In fact, God has provided for us everything that we need to be faithful and fruitful. We have everything that we need. Our stewardship as a community then is use our resources wisely and the most effectively to carry forward God’s mission in this place.
The second point that we can glean from Dr. Campolo’s story is a negative one. I am sure that all the ladies at that World Mission meeting felt quite uncomfortable, and understandably so. The truth is that all giving within the Kingdom of God must be voluntary. I’m sure that Tony, if asked directly, would agree with that. He just got a little carried away on that morning trying to make a point, which he most certainly did! But the method used is far from ideal. For love to be genuine, it must be voluntary. For generosity to be real, it must be voluntary.
St. Clement of Alexandria taught that “compulsion is repugnant to God.” Compulsion is repugnant to God. So true! Within the kingdom of God, every action must be voluntary. We must want to do something in order for it to have meaning and value within God’s order. The voluntary principle is crucial to the Gospel and there is absolutely no place for coercion in the church of Jesus Christ.
It is my personal opinion that we need to get rid of the “should” language that we are so accustomed to using in our manner of speaking. “I should do this” or “I should do that”.
Those words come out of a place of guilt and a fear of failure. This is not at all the kind of bold and generous attitude that our Lord is hoping to find among his people.
Rather than this attitude, I believe that our Lord intends for us to be motivated by love and loyalty and commitment. Instead of “I should”, let us learn to say “I want”. Just imagine the difference. Instead of, “I really should make out a check for $30 to give to the church”, imagine saying, “I want to give $30 to the church this week.” Can you feel the difference? Let’s try a little experiment. First, please say, “I should love God more.” Does that feel quite cold and dull? Now, let’s try saying this, “I want to love God more.” Do you feel the difference?
This is what stewardship is all about. It is not about guilting someone into giving money to a worthy cause. It is not about brow-beating; it’s not about “should” language at all! It is about living each day of our lives with a glad, grateful and generous heart.
The truth is, my friends, if you honestly do not want to give your money to the church, then I would rather that you keep it. I know that this not what the Bishop or the Vestry might perhaps want me to say, but it is the truth, and if nothing else, we must be truthful with one another. Share what you have because you want to, not because you are should. Let it come from your heart. If it doesn’t, then – sure – your offering will help pay for the heat during the winter, but it will not actually do you or this community any real good.
The poor widow gave her two copper coins because she wanted to. She had a good enough excuse not to give, and everyone would have excused her if she gave nothing. She wanted to give back.
My friends, as we go through this stewardship season together, let us understand one thing with complete clarity: we do not need more money. We truly don’t. What we need is to continue to grow as a group of people who really and actually love God, who really love one another and are so grateful for life that we WANT to give as much as we can to help others. What we need is glad, grateful, and generous hearts.
So may it be among us who share abundant life in God’s kingdom. Amen.
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