What Credit Is That to You?

"If you only love the people who love you back," asked Jesus, "what credit is that to you? Everybody does that! Love those who can do nothing for you! After all, that's what God does for you!" (Luke 6:32-36, paraphrase) We've heard this so many times that it's old news. So maybe this little parable will help bring its impact home to us once again.

For just a few minutes, join me at a party. Now, this isn’t just any old party; no siree! This is an elegant party; the kind that you might see on Entertainment Tonight after the Oscars have been awarded. The room is beautifully decorated in gold and silver. The tables are draped with spotless white linen; and in the center of each one is a crystal vase with fresh flowers: white lilies, pale pink roses, and baby’s breath. In the far corner, a string quintet offers tasteful renditions of classical compositions – quietly, though so that the music does not disturb the conversations of the guests. The food is elegant: imported caviar, aged cheeses, and shrimp chilled on ice so that they remain the perfect temperature. If the room is elegant, the guests are even more so. The men are handsome in their tuxedos: young men, full of vim and vigor; middle-aged men at the top of their careers; and older men with silver hair and perfectly trimmed beards, their fortunes made and their lives secure. And the women – ah, the women! Each one is more beautiful than the next! Whether younger or older, each one is perfectly dressed in silk and satin, twinkling with diamonds, makeup immaculate.

What is the occasion? A birthday? An engagement? Maybe a wedding? The occasion for this party isn’t personal, but professional. Their business has just come through another extremely profitable year, and this party has been thrown to celebrate that fact. But few of these people are really here to celebrate anything at all. They are here to win. Over there, for example, is Archie Ambitious. Archie is looking to make some money the easy way; and so, he’s flirting with Sherry Spoiled, the daughter of the company president. Sherry is set to inherit half of the family fortune. If Archie can hook up with her, he’ll have it made. On the other side of the room is Carla Creative. Carla has been trying to get her supervisor Mike Middle Management to listen to her ideas. She is being very, very attentive to Mike right now in hopes that she’ll catch his ear… or his eye. Maybe she’ll even get a promotion out of the deal. And right over there by the punch bowl is Oliver, the owner of the business. Oliver is chatting with Elaine Entrepreneur. Elaine owns a little company that she started with her dad about 10 years ago. She doesn’t know it yet, but Oliver is planning on buying her business, whether or not she wants to sell. But it would be so much easier for him if she agrees to the deal. Oliver is trying to charm Elaine into doing just that.

More money… more status… more power. That’s what these particular people want to win. And after the party, they will go home and celebrate their success over a nightcap. Their wallets are on the way to being fatter than they were before; and isn’t that the definition of success? But the answer to that question depends on who you ask. In Jesus’ opinion, the “success” of these folks is thin and hollow. “What credit is it to you,” he would ask, “if you only do good to those who are good to you in return?” In God’s economics, you see, being generous to someone who can pay you back isn’t worth a hill of beans. God doesn’t give any credit to people who love others for their own gain. I can’t help but hear echoes of another statement that Jesus made: “What does it profit anyone if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?” No, we get credit in God’s kingdom by doing things a little differently.

But there are some other guests at this party. Stella Secretary is there, for example. Stella is on the very lowest rung of the employment ladder at the company; and she doesn’t make much more than the minimum wage. She is chatting with Maria Maid, one of the servers who is offering caviar appetizers to the guests. Stella has discovered that Maria is a single mom trying to raise two young sons; and that her money often runs out at the end of the month. On Monday, Maria will find an envelope containing $500 cash in her mailbox. She won’t have any idea that it came from Stella. Oliver Junior is at the party, too. He’s the heir to the company, and everybody calls him Little Ollie. He’s the one who hired the string quintet. During the musicians’ break, Ollie finds out that the wife of Vinny Viola Player is suffering from cancer. Vinny didn’t want to leave her tonight, but he needed the money to pay for her medical treatments. Ollie sends him home, assuring him that he will be paid for the whole evening. “Everybody is sloshed, anyway,” says Ollie. “No one will even notice that you’re gone. Go home to your wife.” And just outside the front gate is Gary the Guard. Gary’s instructions are to shoo any homeless people away from the gates when the party is over, so that the guests aren’t inconvenienced by needing to step over them on their way out. Only one man is there, bedding down on a steam vent wrapped in a thin, tattered blanket. “That could be me,” thinks Gary; so after the party is over, he goes to a nearby fast-food restaurant and buys the man a meal. Then he takes him to a hotel and buys him a room for the night. He doesn’t even know the man’s name.

Which of these got credit in God’s kingdom with its upside down economics? Was it Archie Ambitious, Carla Creative, and Oliver Owner; or was it Stella Secretary, Little Ollie, and Gary the Guard? Jesus said, “Love those who are not like you; do good to them, and give to them without expecting to get anything back. Be merciful, just as your heavenly Father is merciful.” If that’s the way to get ahead in God’s kingdom, I think that we all know the answer. Stella and Gary and Little Ollie didn’t have an extra dime in their wallets at the end of the evening – in fact, their wallets were thinner than they had been before – but their credit in God’s kingdom was a whole lot higher.

Now, the reality is that we’re all at this party together – both those who are well-off and those who aren’t nearly so fortunate. Even the outsiders who will never make it inside the gate are in it with us, too. But we all have some choices – what are our priorities, who do we pay attention to, and how do we treat one another? We all earn credit by what we do – and by what we don’t do. So, as I bring this little parable to a close, I have just one question. What kind of credit is in your wallet?