I want you to hold on. This one’s hard, but it could be so good. One baby step at a time.
“When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.
Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”
In the week of “Spending” in Jen Hatmaker’s “The 7 Experiment: Staging Your Own Mutiny Against Excess” she talks about this story.
“Jesus was the worst dinner guest ever. Awkward. Jesus’ response is interesting because the issue at hand was hand washing, as He caught the Pharisee casting a reproving glance at His social omission. No one was talking about money. In fact, no one was talking at all. Then bam, after one sideways look from His host, Jesus launched into this searing lecture, and the very first remedy He offered was this:
Give from what is within you to the poor, and then everything is clean for you.
Followed by an indictment on their meticulous tithing but neglect of justice. (Surely the other guests were like, ‘Who invited this guy?’)
I’m starting to wonder if Jesus actually meant that. Was He serious about sanctification through extreme generosity? Is He really advocating giving our goods to those without? I don’t know if He knows this, but this would mean completely retooling the way we live and spend…
What if we’re buying a bag of tricks? And dear readers, shall we stop imagining these sad, sorry, rich people belong to a different demographic? A brave reader admits, ‘He’s talking about me.’ Look at our houses, cars, closets, our luxuries. If we are not rich, then no one is.
If we aren’t’ swept up in entitlement, indulgence, and extravagance, then Jesus is a fool and let’s get back to living. If tithing the minimum and consuming the rest is OK, then we can dismiss Jesus’ ideas and act obsessed about other stuff He said.
But what if?
What if we are actually called to live a radical life? What if Jesus knew our Christian culture would design a lovely life template complete with all the privileges and exemptions we want, but even with that widespread approval, He still expected radical simplicity, radical generosity, radical obedience from those with ears to hear, eyes to see?
These Pharisees were a spiritual mess. What does this passage communicate about the relationship between extreme generosity and everything else Jesus then called out (injustice, pride, spiritual abuse, unrepentant hearts)?
[Heart follows possessions]
Evidently just as money has the power to ruin, generosity has the power to heal.
This is big.
While it is easy to become paralyzed by the world’s suffering and inequalities created by corruption and greed, we actually hold immense power for change, simply by virtue of our wealth and economic independence. Because we decide where our dollars go. Never has so much wealth been so concentrated; our prosperity is unprecedented. If enough of us decided to share, we would unleash a torrent of justice to sweep away disparity, poverty and hopelessness.
And let’s not miss the personal healing extreme generosity catalyzes: ‘Give from what is within to the poor, and then everything is clean for you.’
Wouldn’t it be just like Jesus to heal the giver and the receiver through the same act of generosity? Doesn’t it sound just like Him to finally mend our insides once we love on the outside? That to save our lives we must lose them, and the saving part doesn’t happen until the losing part?
Perhaps we don’t need another sermon or a deeper Bible study or a different mentor or a better church to heal what is broken inside us. Maybe in the crazy giving, the reckless sharing, the dangerous releasing, Jesus finally burrows into our hearts, piercing back the shards and lifting the shroud.
Maybe everything He ever said was true.”
(pages 136 – 141)
Whew. If you’re like me, someone will now have to talk you down off a ledge. One where you want to sell everything you own and move to the Congo. I’m so blessed with a husband who talks me through things like that. Not condescendingly. Calmly, with a love in his eyes at the passion that fosters reactions like these. We all need people to balance us out. God knows what He’s doing.
Either way, maybe you’re supposed to sell everything…and if so, don’t let me stop you! But more than likely, you’re supposed to start right where you are.
During Possessions Week, Jen said this: “This side of heaven, we will never find ourselves on the right side of the kingdom all the time. I won’t. You won’t. Rather than assessing this area as one sum total, already determined, imagine this part of discipleship as a thousand little moments, thousands of small decisions that bit by bit, choice by choice, slowly draw us under the leadership of the correct Master.
When you purge your closets and give to a struggling family…that counts.
When you skip those new shoes and sponsor a child with that money…that counts.
When you help fund your friend’s adoption is some small way…that counts.
When you spend more energy on people than decorating…that counts.
When you give, share, contribute, provide for someone else…that counts.
Everyday we have incremental chances to store up heavenly treasures, to foster good eyes, to be filled with light, to serve and love our God and His people. None of these alone will define us; individually, these moments won’t draw a line in the sand declaring, ‘This. This is the day it all came together.’ Nor will any of them alone disqualify us from this conversation or seal our fates as Money Slaves.
But together, the dots start connecting in a certain direction…It starts with habits and ends with our hearts; God can do that somehow. I guess Jesus was right:
‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ Matthew 6:21