Give Alms!
Like this
‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.'
Like this
‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.'
Matthew Chapter 6, Verses 2-4.
Yesterday I suggested that when considering the Lenten disciplines of Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving, we may well suppose the last of these three to be the easiest. After all - all we now need do is log on and give our credit card details to someone and the job's done.We are used to 'managing money' and whether we find it easy or difficult it is in our society a Good Thing to be able to do.Whereas fasting and Prayer seem to require more of us. Fasting makes us hungry and Praying takes time out of busy days. They more directly challenge our way of looking at the world. But is this so?
LIsten to Jesus' requirements re giving Alms? It has little to do with a way of giving that is immersed in managing Money. "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" - there is little here of a careful and discriminating use of Money. An unconscious Act is hardly a good way to go around managing Money.
Think for a moment, not about giving Alms, but about how we do it. Is it dare we say, thoughtless? Careless? Unthinking? Impulsive? Or do we imagine ourselves as Stewarding our money? Do we pray carefully about what we give? Do we take time to research perhaps a charity and make sure its aims are good? Do we give to the homeless on the street, or do we fear what they will do with it?
[Listen to how wise this all sounds to our ears]
BUT, put like this, how much is there of not letting our left hand know what our right hand is doing in Our approach to giving Alms? Is not this approach as self referential as that of the 'hypocrites', in that we like to be able to tell ourselves that we have done a Good Thing by our giving??
We might be aghast at the idea of giving freely to whoever asks, to all and sundry, to those we judge as deserving AND those we judge as undeserving - but why? Does not God do the same?
The parable of the sower is one of many illustrations of this - he sows without any careful plan or strategy - he does not seem to care where the seed falls. In our modern and 'oh so wise' ways he is a Lousy farmer, inefficient - indeed a Poor Steward of his riches. His ways are not our ways.
He is the Prodigal Father. Unlike his Prodigal Son he does not spend on his own fallen desires, rather he Spends himself on the World, without any careful calculation. In our approach to giving Alms are we like the Prodigal Father, or the careful elder son?
He is the Prodigal Father. Unlike his Prodigal Son he does not spend on his own fallen desires, rather he Spends himself on the World, without any careful calculation. In our approach to giving Alms are we like the Prodigal Father, or the careful elder son?
Perhaps this whole business of giving Alms is not so easy after all??
(to be continued)
