The Economy of Jesus
01-18-09
Jeanne Freeman
As we are looking at the words of Jesus regarding love for God and neighbor, this may be a proper time for us newer members of this fellowship to express our gratitude to those of you who nurtured the Newman UMC through decades of service. Many of you received the torch from parents and grandparents who also were workers in this church. I know some of you – the Clarks, the Holzingers, the Staffords, Dee Taylor, Dorothy Summers – but I know the list is much longer. We appreciate this beautiful sanctuary, the remarkable pipe organ, the gifts of service such as the Trustees who have labored and still labor to maintain and beautify this building, the yard, the Fellowship Hall, and the parsonage. And for all the creative committees that equip our members to make this church one of compassionate outreach and interior worship. Thank you and God bless you.
Well, today we’re going to talk about money and that can be a touchy subject. I heard over the radio the other day that the topic of money leads to more arguments between married couples than any other subject. That may be true. There was this wife who said to her husband, "Darlin’, I have my heart set on that beautiful Chrysler!" Her husband replied, "Well, that’s the only part of your anatomy that’s going to set on it, cuz we’re not buyin’ it!" No doubt and argument ensued. Then there was the young husband who surveyed his wife’s new wardrobe and gave her a lecture on the economy. "You must think money grows on trees!" he said. To which she replied, "Well, okay, smarty, I admit I like to spend money, but I dare you to try to name one other extravagance that I’m guilty of." Perhaps you’ve heard this little ditty: "Their bank account is insufficient by one feminine flaw, he’s fast on the deposit, but she’s quicker on the draw."?
Jesus had some strong things to say about money. But if you don’t stone the messenger before I finish, we might find his words have a silver lining.
After Jesus declared that the spirit of the Lord was on him to set at liberty those who are oppressed, he went among the people teaching and healing their many diseases. Matthew tells us that Jesus had intense compassion for the crowds. The Jews use the word splangcha, the very entrails where we feel our deepest love and hatred, to describe the feelings of Jesus. It was like a movement in the womb of God. Jesus observed the oppressions that bore down on the people. He saw that one of their greatest burdens was that of providing for themselves. He also saw how the people were crushed by the failure to obtain wealth. You see, in that day it was considered a mark of God’s displeasure to be poor. So for those who labored hard and could not adequately provide for their families they had the added burden of believing God was displeased with them. Do you recall when Jesus told his disciples that it was easier for a camel to slip through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God? The disciples were astonished. They believed the rich were loved of God. So they responded, "Who, then, can be saved?" And, of course, Jesus assured them that all things were possible for God, but he clearly saw the grip that money can have on us. Repeatedly Jesus refuted the idea that God had a special love for the rich; that, rather, in the simple economy of God, the poor, the sick, and the broken were special objects of God’s concern and blessing.
In the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells us to be scandalously free from anxiety because we are under the watchful and caring eye of God. We can seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness knowing that all things needful will be provided. He warns us that no matter what our earthly treasures might be, we must not hold on to them too tightly because they are bound to ultimately disappoint us and keep us from living in the freedom and power of the Kingdom of God. He gives three reasons why we should not amass earthly treasures. First, thieves or depression or inflation can break in and steal our treasures. Next, whatever our treasure is will obsess our entire life for "where your treasure is there will your heart be also." Thirdly, there is an order in the kingdom of God in which provision is made for everyone and everything, including the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. God will meet our needs as we work and have trust and faith.
For Christ, love of God and love of neighbor were two sides to the same door; we have to love both to get through the door. And like the Samaritan, we soon discover that our path often leads to the bleeding, starving, and broken humanity. The poor, the prisoner, the blind, the oppressed tell us something of the burden of Jesus who declared that he was anointed to redeem and heal such ones as these. Jesus expresses that there is a divine caring for those who cannot care for themselves and he invites us to share his burden for them.
This compassion for the defenseless is again seen in Christ’s instruction to his dinner host to "go out and invite the poor, the lame and maimed" to his banquet. Inviting such folk is not to get one’s name in the social register, but because they need help.
Luke’s account of the rich man and poor Lazarus who begged at his gate underscores the same perspective. The rich man was not an evil man. He had not caused Lazarus’ poverty. He did not even chase Lazarus from his gate as many of us might be tempted to do. He merely ignored Lazarus. But that was the great offense.
Do you remember Jesus encounter with Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector at the important crossroad of Jericho. He was despised because he took more money than Rome required and kept the extra to make himself rich. Zacchaeus was intrigued with what he heard about Jesus. Learning that Jesus was coming his way, short Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree to get a better view. Jesus spotted Zacchaeus, and ignoring public resentment, invited himself to dine at Zacchaeus’ home. While they dined Jesus must have put the whole nine yards of salvation on him because Zacchaeus exclaimed, "Half of my goods I will give to the poor and I will restore four-fold to any I have robbed." To which Christ replied, "Today salvation has come to this house."
The New Testament consistently and vigorously warns us of the dangers of riches. Many of Jesus; statements about wealth and caring for the needy come to us in radical commands that we refuse to take seriously: give to everyone who begs from you; lend and expect nothing in return; if someone takes your cloak, give him your coat as well; sell your possessions and give alms; whoever of you who does not renounce all that you have, cannot be my disciple.
We are shocked by these strong words and find little comfort in his more general instruction. Jesus tells that parable of the rich farmer whose life centered in hoarding and calls him a fool. Jesus counsels his disciples to take nothing on their journey; no staff, no bread, no money, and only one tunic. He declared was on the materialism of his day. The Aramaic term for money is mammon and Jesus called it a rival god. We sense in these words an uncompromising call to discipleship. These words unnerve us because we Read them as laws. But let’s understand that Jesus did not intend to give us a new set of laws. Inherent in all of these teachings in the simple love of God and neighbor meant not to destroy us, but to set us free. It is with the glad call to all of us who are oppressed by our concern for worldly power, reputation, and wealth.
Jesus was often among the poor – he, himself, had taken on the poverty of a roaming rabbi – but he was also frequently in contact with the rich and privileged. More than once he was found dining at the banquet table of wealthy Pharisees. Joseph of Arimathea was both a wealthy man a disciple of Jesus. Also Nicodemus, who later became a disciple, apparently had considerable means. Jesus was far from being a rigid ascetic, he was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. The accusation was obviously a malicious smear, but it pointed to the fact that joyous celebration was an important element in his life. He could rejoince with a young couple in a weeklong wedding festival and even provide extra drinks for everyone. He could allow the lavish expenditure of an expensive ointment to be poured over his head and feet while a disciple grumbled about the needs of the poor.
Jesus’ influence on the early church was remarkable. When the life and power of the kingdom of God burst upon the human scene at Pentecost, it was the catalyst for a powerful expression of Christian life. Until then the disciples were a rather motley crew – bickering, backbiting, squabbling over who was to receive top billing. But in the course of time Jesus had formed a community of persons who would live in holy obedience. There was in that early church an integration of economic sharing with other spiritual disciplines such as teaching and prayer. Barnabas became something of a paradigm of spontaneous generosity by selling a field to provide for the needs of the fellowship. There was an interwoven connection between the fellowship’s economic liberality and divine power. We hear of wonders and signs done by the apostles and in the next breath we discover that "all who believed were together and had all things in common." On and on like an interwoven tapestry, the freedom to experiment with practical ways, to flesh out the meaning of love for God and neighbor.
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for considering that their tithe was the only gift they owed to God. Their tithe failed to dethrone the rival god of materialism. It is quite possible to tithe and, at the same time, oppress the poor and needy. Jesus called them selfish hypocrites, and claimed that they neglected justice, mercy, and faith. Why was Jesus so hard on the Pharisees who were the rich class of folks in Israel? Jesus saw they externalized a vast array of laws through surface piety, that they were exclusive, regarding Samaritans, gentiles, and women as more like dogs than person s of worth. Some of them were good men, some became disciples of Jesus, others were defined by the Jews who called them tumbling or bleeding Pharisees. Tumbling Pharisees attempted to draw public attention to their supposed humility by stooping to a 90 degree angle, making it difficult to pick up their feet as they walked and often stumbling as a result. So they would not see a woman, the Bleeding Pharisees would close their eyes as they shuffled along and would then bump into things causing scrapes and bruises to their bodies. Jesus was trying deep surgery on them with his thundering rebukes; trying to reach their hearts which he saw were cold and proud.
In AD 125 the philosopher Aristides would say of that early church: "These Christians walk in all humility and kindness and falsehood is not found among them and they love one another. They despise not the widow and grieve not the orphan. If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof and rejoice over him as if he were their own brother, for they call themselves brethren after the spirit of God. If any of their members is imprisoned for the faith, all provide for his needs." The early church turned the known world upside down.
Examples abound of Christians in the service of the poor and in the cause of social justice throughout history. The efforts of John Wesley and the early Methodists are well known. The simplicity of their lifestyle gave integrity to the Gospel they preached. As a young man, John Wesley calculated that 28 pounds (about $65) a year would care for his needs. In those days prices remained basically the same so he was able to keep at that level of expenditure throughout his lifetime. When he first made that decision his income was 30 pounds. Later sales from his books earned him 1400 pound, but still he lived on 28 pound and gave the rest away. Wesley is reported to have told his sister, "Money never stays with me. It would burn me if it did. I get rid of it as soon as possible, lest it find its way within my heart." If at his death Wesley had more than 10 pounds, he proclaimed that people could have the privilege of calling him a robber. Near the end of his life he wrote this in his journal: "I left no money to anyone in my will because I had none."
We cannot live in our culture without money. Nor should we despise money. It feeds us, houses us, educates our children, builds and maintains our churches. God calls very few of us to a voluntary poverty. The more famous of these is, of course, Francis of Assisi who went naked down the road as he left his father’s riches. There are also Kagawa of the Japanese slums, Mother Teresa, and some orders of both the Catholic and Protestant churches. The opposite extreme of taking on poverty is the love-Jesus-and-get-rich folks. If their desire for riches is for the lavish lifestyle and power it lends them, the law of faith may work for them but their motive is selfish. Some Christians have the gift of making money and they share it generously with the Christian community. Some have money because they have given so much away that the law of Reaping and Sowing brings it back to them. Giving and receiving is part of the Christian experience.
Today our failing economy is causing much suffering for millions of American as we all know. We hear of families living in their cars. However there are millions in this country who have a large cash flow to fall back on. Many of them resist the urge to share because they’re afraid of losing their resources. Let us Christians who can continue to serve the needs of our church, our neighbors, our community, sacrifice if we must. Paul echoes Jesus in his admonition to have no anxiety about anything, but in prayer and thanksgiving make our requests known to God who in turn will gird our hearts and minds in perfect peace. God is our security, our provider. As we share our material gifts, we enter communion of saints. Their message is clear: In everything love, kindness, and simplicity.