04 3rd Wednesday of Lent

Have you ever played the game where you try and figure out what you would do if you won the lottery? So what would you do? Let’s say that you won 20 million dollars. Not a bad haul. So what would you do with it? How would you spend it? Don’t forget about taxes, so that means that you really only have 10 million dollars, but still, that’s not too shabby either.  What would you do with that cash? How would you spend it?

Would you be willing to use the money to pay off your debts? Would you be willing to use the money to help out your children, our parents? Would you be willing to use the money to help out a dear friend? I think that most people, for the most part, would answer yes to this. Because as we think about the people in our lives and what they mean to us and how important they are to us, and how much we love them, then having something like money, would be an easy way to help them out. Your parents wouldn’t have to worry about retirement or medical bills. Your kids wouldn’t have to worry about paying for college. You could even help out a very dear friend.

None of those things are much of a stretch. But would you be willing to help the friend of that dear friend. Now I am talking about a person that you don’t know. You have never met them, and the only thing that you know about them is that they are very dear and special to your friend. Would you do it? Interesting huh?

Tonight, we are continuing our discussion of holy habits as we talk about the habit of almsgiving, also known as taking care of the needy or poor. Almsgiving is not just about giving money. It is about loving and caring for another person. It is a practice that has been around for a very ,very, very long time. And it is a holy habit that can help us to go deeper in our relationship with our God.

Back to the lottery example. You see, it is not much of a stretch to imagine that if we came across some unexpected money, that, after taxes, we would use the money to help out some of the people we know and love. But what about those who are loved by the people we love, that is what about the friend of the friend? That may be a little less of a given, but I think it is a very helpful example as we are talking about almsgiving, because even though it may be less of a given, it really is not that much of a stretch. Because as we care for the friend of our friend. We are not only loving them, but we are loving our friend as well, because we are saying to them, “the people that are important to you are important to me too.” And what you would find is that as you care for the people that are important to your friend, then your relationship with your friend would grow as well.

I think that this is a helpful way for us to think about almsgiving. Because what we are talking about then, is something that comes from relationship. As I have said, almsgiving is something that has been around for a very long time. If you go back to Deuteronomy 15:11 you will find God telling his people to take care of the poor.  “There will always be poor people in the land. That is why I command you to be generous to others who are poor and needy.” But if we are talking about almsgiving and caring for the poor merely out of obligation, then we are missing the point.

Instead, it is better to see it coming out of the relationship that we have with our God. It is not that we are doing this because God told us to do it. We are doing it, because this is something that is important to God, and if it is important to him, then it is important to us also. So, as we would be willing to help the friend of a friend, we could also say that helping the poor is important, because they are people that God loves and cares very deeply about. This puts it in a whole new light. One that comes not from guilt and obligation but from love. And when you understand it from this perspective, you get a better idea of what Jesus meant in the gospel reading for this evening.

Beware of practicing your piety in front of other people. In other words, he is telling us not to do things to draw attention to ourselves. We don’t practice the holy habits so that people can see us and say, “Wow. Look at how spiritual that person is. They must be a really good person. I am really impressed.” But instead we practice them, no so that other people will be impressed, but so that we can grow deeper in our relationship with our God.

If fasting is the statement, that I refuse to allow anything to be more important in my life than my God. And prayer is communicating with our God. The almsgiving is the next step and says, “not only is nothing else going to be more important than my God, but I am going to step out in faith.” Almsgiving is then not just a way for us to care for others, but it is a way for us to express our faith and trust that our God indeed gives us everything that we need to support our bodies and lives.

It is no secret that our God is a God who gives. He gives us house and home, food and clothing, spouse and children, and all that we need to support our bodies and lives. He has proven himself to be faithful. His gifts are not limited to the material. He also gives us forgiveness, and life and salvation and a relationship with us. This he gives not because of anything in us or because of anything we have done, but for the sake of his son. God loved us so much that he gave. He gave his son. And through him we have life.

Our God, who has reconciled us, who has brought us back to himself through Jesus, invites us, give us the privilege of becoming ministers of reconciliation as well. And so we give, because we have a God who gives. We give, because we have a God who is generous. We give, because we have a God who loves and cares for deeply the poor and the need.

Thus, giving comes out of our relationship with our God, and not out of our attempts to get people to think more highly of us. In Jesus’ day, giving was a status symbol. It was a sign of wealth and power. If you had enough extra money that you were able to give it away, well then, you were really something.

But the kind of giving that Jesus calls us to is that which comes out of a relationship. It is a quiet and humble kind of giving. It is not something that is done with trumpets and fanfare. Or in our day, it is not something that ends up on youtube or the nightly news. But it is something that takes place quietly, it is something between us and our God. It is something that is part of relationship with our God.

That is why Jesus uses the hyperbolae here of not letting your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Because the giving is not about us. But about the one we represent. About our relationship with him and living that out in our lives.

This is not something that will make God love us more. But it is something that will allow us, and help us to grow in our maturity and experience and understanding of who God is and how he works in our lives. Notice too that I have been careful not to equate this with money. You can give money and not be moved or change. But it is more than that. It is really a giving ourselves in order to show the love of God to another, and this can happen in any number of ways.  You can give of your time, talents or any other resources that are available to you.

Chances are the most of us are not going to win the lottery. But that doesn’t mean that we have nothing to give or to offer. I would like to challenge us to think about how we might give ourselves this Lenten season. I pray that in that giving we would find a maturity in our faith and relationship with our God. And that even though our left hand won’t know what our right hand is doing, that when others see these good works, they would give glory to our Father in heaven. Now and always. Amen.