What Belongs to God

The Christian practice that I considered this week is generosity. Generosity arises out of the realization that we have nothing of our own, but that everything that we have and everything that we are belongs to God. Is generosity a part of your life?

During the past several weeks, my sermons have discussed some of our foundational Christian practices. The first practice we considered was prayer, throughout all the ages of our lives. Then, we discussed Bible interpretation, so that we can evaluate for ourselves what different churches preach. We considered our priorities, as we try to simplify our lives and make room for what is really important. Finally, last week we discussed community – that community of saints that transcends even death. That brings us to today’s topic – generosity.

Most people immediately think of money when the subject of generosity is raised. And, in fact, this is the season for stewardship sermons. During the month of November, millions of sermons will be preached by pastors who are trying to get their congregations to ante up a few more dollars – sometimes, quite a few more dollars – to meet their 2013 church budget. Certainly financial giving is a part of generosity. But Christian generosity goes far beyond what we put into the church offering plate each week. Jesus gives us a clue to what real generosity is all about in this morning’s story from the gospel of Mark (12:13-17). Although that story begins with a financial question, it ends with a much wider focus.

In this little story, members of the Jewish religious establishment are trying to catch Jesus in his own words. They want to get rid of him; and they are looking for a way to do it legally. So when they come to him with a question about paying the Roman tax, they think they have him in a dilemma that will put him into their hands regardless of his answer. “Teacher,” they ask, “Should we pay taxes to the government or not?” Now, that’s a “lose-lose” question if there ever was one! If Jesus says, “Yes, we should pay taxes,” the Jewish crowds could be incited to riot, and Jesus might even be stoned to death. (Paying taxes were even less popular in those days than they are today!) But if Jesus says, “No, Jews don’t have to pay taxes because God, not Caesar, is their king,” the Jewish authorities can have him arrested for treason. So Jesus responds, “Well, gee, let’s take a look at a Roman coin. Whose image is this on it? And whose name is written underneath the image?” That was a no-brainer. Everyone knew that Roman coins contained the image and the name of the emperor. Now, in ancient times, an image was frequently used to prove ownership. Since most people couldn’t read or write, the way to claim possession was to stamp their picture on something. Caesar’s face was on all Roman coins; so obviously, that money belonged to Caesar. Jesus’ answer is simple, wise, and deep with meaning. “So, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar; and give to God what belongs to God.” The money is Caesar’s because it bears his image. But a second question hangs in the air unanswered – what bears God’s image? Jesus’ listeners all knew the answer to that question; and so do we. We can hear the author of Genesis whispering the answer in our ears: “So God created humankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We are what bears God’s image! The money may belong to Caesar, but we belong to God.

Since we belong to God, then we owe God everything we have and everything we are. We owe God way more than just a percentage of our bank account. God has the ultimate claim on our talents, our time, and everything that we own. And because we understand that everything we have is God’s, Christians view generosity differently than most folks do. In the eyes of society, giving dollars to charity, or buying nonperishable food for the local food pantry, or spending time working at a soup kitchen is very generous! And those are all good things to do, but they fall far short of real Christian generosity. If we are really generous, says Jesus, we will be willing to give up all that we have and all that we are for the sake of the gospel. What we have isn’t ours, anyway. It belongs to God; and if God needs it, then we are happy to give it back.

I happened to see a report on Friday’s nightly news about relief efforts that have been sent to help the East Coast in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Many of the donations are coming from New Orleans, who survived Hurricane Katrina; and Joplin, Missouri, who survived a killer tornado. Because others had been generous with those survivors, they were generous, too. One video showed a semi truck that was loaded with supplies – clothing, blankets, and food. That kind of generosity is all the more remarkable because the donors were still living in trailers that FEMA had provided to them. Although they are still recovering from a disaster of their own, those people are modeling the generosity that Jesus wants of us.

Now, generosity like this isn’t very common. Many of us were raised to believe that a little bit of generosity is fine; but at some point, we have to hold to what is ours. So when we reach that point, we clench our hands into fists and we hang on tight! The trouble is that if our fingers are clenched into fists for too long, it’s really hard to unclench them. It feels wrong to relax our fingers and stretch them out so that we can let go of things. But that’s the example that Jesus gave us. What our fists are holding on to will be different for each person. Churches tend to encourage generosity in financial giving. But there are other types of generosity that are just as important. How much poorer would we be, for instance, if no one ever shared their talents with others? What if nobody played the piano, or sang in the choir? What if nobody wrote a newsletter article, or put together a Moment for Missions? What if nobody painted the kitchen, or helped Habitat for Humanity put wiring into a new house? Sharing our own talents generously is just as important as writing a big check! And even if someone thinks that they don’t have any talents to share, everyone has time to give. Gathering unused blankets and clothing to donate to the needy only takes a few minutes; but that time spent generously might help another human being to live through a long, cold winter. Generosity isn’t something that we tack on to our lives every now and then when we think about it. It’s a Christian practice rooted in the understanding that all of us belongs to God – money, possessions, time, and life itself.

Do you think generosity isn’t important? Listen to this old story from the Jewish tradition. It is said that a man was in prayer one day; and he began to ponder all the brokenness in our world. As he realized how much need was all around him, he sank into despair and cried out to God, “Why do you let this happen? Why don’t you send somebody to fix all this?” Deep in his heart, he heard the still, small voice of God answer him, “I did send someone. I sent you.”