Money… I don't know what inspired me to want to talk about this. Or want to look into it. I have found quite good value in reading this book “Money and Salvation”, by Andrew Geleris, in particular. Anyway, I hope you'll humour me and come along a journey through some of my ponderings on the topic of money, giving, and how an OT understanding of sacrifice might be useful for us modern christians.
Nothing better than starting with the Merriam Webster definition of sacrifice: “an act of offering to a deity something precious”, but I don't think this contains the connotations we think of when it comes to sacrifice. We normally think of something more along the lines of another meaning given: “The destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else”.
As for scripture. It has a lot to say on how to sacrifice, specifically all the rules and regulations around it; but there is not a great level of detail as to the why. It just assumes sacrifice is a part of standard life, the water which we swim in. However we find some insight into the why from tradition, both from the jewish faith and through our Christian heritage as well. As with any major historical practice we do not have certainty, but a commonly supported belief is that the ancient act of sacrifice is primarily a pledge to God. like making a sign of good faith for how we're going to behave from now on. This was not an act of fear or bribery to win favour. Sacrifice is supposed to be earnest and something you put your integrity on the line for.
Even today foreign dignitaries will come bearing gifts as a sign of good faith in negotiating diplomatic arrangements. And it was not long ago that it was the norm for us normal non diplomates when moving into a new neighbourhood, to be expected to present gifts to their neighbours as a sign of good faith, for example taking a cake. Conversely in all of these situations if you did not give anything it would be taken as an insult and any relationship with you would not be taken seriously.
Now with that lens of pledging to God, Hopefully some more of the old testament will come alive to us. That we might see sacrifices as this exciting thing to participate in just as the Israelites did. And for that we need to keep an eye out for 3 things,
So let’s recite a story, Israelites, in egypt, slavery, 400 years. And then as the story goes God shows up, and 1 passage of note for us today comes from Exodus
Exodus 5:1-3
1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”
2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”
3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
And so plagues come, the Israelites leave Egypt and go into the wilderness, festivals ensue. Finally Israel and God come together to form a covenant, You are our God, we are your people, your ways are our ways. And so it is only natural that from this place where God has done so much that we are not compelled by pressure, but bursting forth from within us we are impelled to sacrifice. When we see the rich harvest we delight in presenting our first fruits to God. Even to the extent of as in our reading of numbers. The whole tribe of Levites are given to God as a sign of commitment that all the Israelites might be his people as a kind of living sacrifice. Now I was going to make reference to us being a royal priesthood, but I heard we were on a bit of a Romans 12 streak in our sermons. So…
Romans 12:1
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
I think this understanding of sacrifice can even help us with our understanding of the context of today’s Gospel reading. Just prior to our reading we have a miraculous act of God. Jesus has called Lazurus from the grave. A dead man breathes again. There is a mention of the Sanhedrin calling a meeting where they plan to deal with this “Jesus problem” which contrasts with our reading which is about a family holding a feast in honour of Jesus where expensive perfume is spent anointing Jesus’ feet. And while it is not directly mentioned in scripture whether Lazurus, Martha, or Mary are disciples of Christ - and by disciple I mean the category of Jesus followers broader than the 12. I think it makes more sense to see this as a sign that they are disciples rather than this just being an ordinary thank you for the resurrection, or a reciprocating gift for gift. Instead the room was filled with the fragrance of the perfume, and if we were to read the room, we would hear in the quiet of their hearts. “This is the messiah, The son of David. He is our king and we are his subjects.”
Now I would like to apply this lens of sacrifice to how we think about giving to the church today. First this can ground our understanding that it is not the size of the offering which matters but the size of the heart. I think we often get this right when we use the language of “giving according to our means”. Even for those who are reliant on receiving from the church and are unable to give, you too are giving according to your means and are truly participating in the offering. I might even implore the church to consider, when financially supporting a brother or sister, to support them above and beyond the bare minimum such that they might have something to give. So that there is no space for doubts to creep into their head about their participation in the offering.
Second I think it can challenge us on who we are serving with the work we do. Really our whole lives are to be in service of God whether we be doing the dishes, or working at the office. And when we do work which is compensated with money, who is that compensation for. Is it for us or is it for God? John Welsey uses some interesting phrases from his sermon “Use of Money”. Some have simplified this to a 3 point sermon. Gain all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can. He is trying to hit a middle ground between 2 falsehoods. One, thinking that the only work that is God’s work is where you do not get paid or at most receive subsistence payment. And 2, the other extreme of the prosperity gospel where the payment you receive for your work is a reflection of how righteous you are and what you deserve. Instead John Wesley is arguing that it is possible to earn even absurd amounts while doing God’s work, but advocating that we do not limit our giving to a tenth, but to give as much as we can bear to a God who has given more than we could ever bear. Eventually John Wesley himself lived out this attitude. In a year he would earn 30 pounds, live on 28 pounds and give away the remaining 2 pounds. The next year he earned double so gave away 32 pounds. Till in the peak of his career he was earning a little over 1400 pounds and giving away almost 1400 pounds as he had not changed his expenses.
We also in giving should come together with our offerings to God, It is US, the church, not I an individual which brings an offering to God. It is then US, the church, not I which will spend that money on fragrant offerings pleasing for the Lord, whether that be instruments, or candles, and all the other many expenses we pay to create this moment of worship pleasing to God. We could commission an art piece like a stained glass window which can transform the sun's light into a light which praises God. or even a whole building consecrated for the Lord. We all come together to offer so that each of us can all participate regardless of how much or little each of us gave as individuals, and know “I am one of God’s people”.
Also when we Give collectively to God we recognise that this money now belongs to God and his purposes. When the great table is set and we are welcomed for eucharist, it is God who is providing the feast and welcoming us to the table. Likewise if any of us fall into financial hardship and the church helps us it is God who provided for what we needed, so that we might not feel a sense of guilt owing anything to one of our brothers or sisters.
So one last thought about giving to the church and this is the part about struggle, where I struggle. Something I think that captures it, is the call put out this week by Tim for raising funds to support someone in our community. I was discussing this with my wife. And so of course I’m thinking I’d want to give to support this, but I am struck, wondering why have I not already given that money I had available to the church. Is my unwillingness to give revealing a breakdown of trust, or am I treating the church like a charity organisation selling different kinds of good causes for me to choose from. And from the church side, is it my lack of trust which means the church does not have the money already to give to this, or possibly even worse do we have such a broken relationship with one another, that my lack of trust causes the church to think it does not have the mandate to just make these kinds of calls to freely give. At this point my wife reminds me that people have probably already reached out and fulfilled this need, and I do not want to in any way diminish their generosity, or diminish the generosity of people who are giving to any of the appeals made at St Michael’s.
Sometimes we may even feel hesitant to give to a church out of a mistrust in what a church chooses to spend its money on, or disagreements about spending priorities. But this can end up missing the point of giving entirely and make giving about our own desires rather than giving to God. Did not Christ heap praise on the widow who offered her two coins to a temple and its pharisees, whom he had just admonished saying “They devour widows’ houses”.
But what would St Michael's look like if you or I were freed from such fears, mistrust, and pride. Would we see that there are no needy persons among us. Would by this everyone know that we are Jesus’ disciples, because of our love for one another.
I know that I personally have bought into what the world has told me about money. That I need to look out for myself, invest and not let my money ever go to waste, that a good life requires owning a house and travelling. That I must be an avid consumer to satisfy my desires. Rather than buying into my God’s way. A God who I can trust will provide for me. And buying into a church family, where I provide for others when I have the means, and a place where I can be supported when I am in need.
So we’ve talked about the joy of sacrifice, of making a pledge to dedicate ourselves to God, we’ve talked about a thanksgiving which motivates this pledge, and I’ve shared my personal sense that I do not see myself living out this devoted life to God. I do however want to be clear that these feelings should not be what drives a change in the pattern of our giving, but merely an examination that things aren’t right the way they are and to humble myself.
All giving should come out of a place of overflowing thankfulness for what God has done. And the reason my giving habits should change or that I should give at all, isn’t because of guilt or an idea of how cool church could be if I did… Rather, my financial giving should be a pledge of my whole self, best exemplified by the regular giving from the income God has blessed me with. Ang giving that comes from this place of thanksgiving might be best exemplified by spontaneous giving. For instance when we share in our celebrations at church, and take a chocolate from the chocolate box. What if we marked celebrations not just by taking, but with making a spontaneous gift back to God, as an offering of special thanks?
