Rereading for the
hundredth time, at least, the story in Luke 10:30-37 of the Good
Samaritan who stops on the side of the road , I suddenly had a new
insight into why we hoard our money. We may like feeling like good
Christians when we give, but we do not give sacrificially because the
thing we fear more than anything is having to receive.
The idea of not
being independent scares us. Rather than give first fruits, we make
sure we have enough for us, and not just our daily bread, but enough
for ever so that we never have to be dependent on anyone.
This of course
belies the idea that we are dependent first of all on God. That puts
us in the same ditch with everyone else relying on someone else to
care for us.
I know I have said
it before and it is not original with me, but the opposite of giving
is not receiving, it is hoarding. And the opposite of receiving is
not giving, but refusing. ( I learned this from my bishop who is a
very wise woman).
But they all get
tied up together. We do not give as generously as we ought because we
are saving far into the future instead of seeing what we have received
as our daily bread. And we do it so that we never have to receive
from others.
Even churches do
it. We hoard money so that we don't really have to depend on the
giving of our members. We forget that our members are us. Or maybe
we don't forget. Maybe we hoard because we know ourselves well enough
to know that we are not going to give generously. And then we
complain when the giving is not sufficient.
Someone needs to
open the flow again.
Someone needs to
give so generously that we begin to see that there is enough if we
will only share it. If we will only give and receive graciously.
Wait a minute,
someone has. Everything we have has been given us from above.
Including the gift of God's own Son, the bread of life.
When we realize
how generously God has given to us, when we realize that all we have
is really a gift and we are already on the receiving end then we can
give and receive. Then we can become a part of the flow that is the
way the kingdom really works.
Maybe that is why
the some orders of monks used to go out as beggars, to learn that we
are all people in need. Maybe that is why when we read the story of
the Samaritan we need to see ourselves as the person in the ditch.
Lord,
Save us from our own sense of self sufficiency. Help us to receive
and to give.
Amen
