My wife listens to public radio and generally enjoys much of the programming, whether it’s thoughtful commentary on public life, discussions of the arts, news reporting from perspectives other than our own, Garrison Keillor or “Car Talk.” However, a couple weeks or more out of the year, listening to public radio becomes an ordeal. Her favorite shows are frequently interrupted by urgent pleas for donations to support the radio station and public radio in general. Sometimes during those times Beth simply collects a few CDs and plays music from those instead of trying to listen to the radio.
I imagine many people’s impression of Christian church life is that it is something like those fund raising weeks on public radio or television. Supposedly we are constantly urging people to give, punctuating all that we do, whether it’s worship or service, with those pleas.
I doubt that the impression that churches are constantly begging for money is true in 99% of our congregations, but even if it’s not the real scenario, we must acknowledge that giving is at the heart of our faith. That’s why Matthew 6, the central chapter of the Sermon on the Mount, may be understood as Jesus’ extended commentary on giving and what should be our attitude toward it.
The first part of Matthew 6 is what Jesus has to say about the the three traditional pillars of Jewish piety: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. The same acts constitute three out of the five pillars of Islam. What strikes me is that Jesus begins with alms, giving to the poor. Typically, religious acts directed toward God are placed ahead of those directed toward others. Elsewhere Jesus named first love toward God and then love toward one’s neighbor as the greatest commandments. In the Muslim list, recitation of Islam’s basic faith commitment (there is only one God, Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet) and prayer both come before the giving of alms.
Yet here Jesus places giving first and I believe the whole chapter can be seen as support for and commentary on this basic Christian practice. The closing verses of Matthew 6, about not being anxious for the necessities of life, are beautiful and comforting, but they come into sharper focus when one considers them from the previous assumption that Christians will regularly be giving away at least some part of what they have.
Likewise the command in verses 19-21 to store up treasures in heaven and the command to not make a god or master out of money in verse 24 fit very well with an overall perspective aimed at generous giving being a large part of Christian life.
And all three spiritual practices are discussed here in Matthew 6 in a way that encourages doing them in pursuit of a reward that comes from God rather than for a tangible reward that appears in this world from others.
I’ve got to think it all through a bit more, but I’m liking the single theme of giving as a way to unpack this whole chapter. Even in the Lord’s prayer, we find ourselves expected to engage in the giving of forgiveness. Verses 22 and 23 are harder to squeeze into this framework, so I’ve got to ponder them some more.
What do you think?