Have you ever tried to count the stars? Or wondered at the beauty of the sunset? Or breathed in deep after a fresh rain and looked up to see a rainbow? These are all God’s gifts.
But God doesn’t stop there. Have you ever held sleeping baby? Or skipped rocks with a friend, a child or a child at heart? Or listened to the stories of a grandparent or elder? Relationships are God’s gifts too.
Have you ever watched a musician playing; an artist drawing; or a chef cooking and seen the joy of creating something beautiful? Have you ever heard someone speaking passionately about volunteering at a soup kitchen or a food shelf? Or knit mittens to give away? Or shoveled their neighbor’s walk? All of these skills are gifts from God. And the time that it takes to do these things? That’s a gift too. Furthermore, as Paul writes, your gifts inspire others to also give thanks to God.
God is generous with God’s gifts. God wants us to be generous too. As Paul says, “God loves a cheerful giver.” It isn’t because God is lacking in anything – the whole world belongs to God after all – but God knows what happens to us when we give joyfully. We are filled with even more joy.
In our Gospel lesson we meet a young man who has it all. He’s rich. He’s faithful. He’s earnest. Jesus looks at him and loves him and invites him to follow. And yet… that rich young man goes away from Jesus deeply saddened.
This is a hard story to understand because, as Greek scholar and pastor Karl Jacobson said, “It’s not translated very well.” When the rich man asks, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" he is not asking about one deed or action but rather is saying “What good must I do” a general sense.” And in response, Jesus simply points him to God saying, “There is one good one.” In other words, look to God for the goodness. And then Jesus points the young man to the commandments. But the young man continues, asking simply, “Which? As in, which one have I failed to keep? How can I do it better?” 1
I once thought that this young man was just trying to justify himself. But, on this reading, I think this young man is earnest. He wants to do the right thing. He is seeking something, perhaps because he knows that he is missing something. His wealth and obedience are not bringing him joy. And so it is out of love that Jesus invites him to experience the joy of giving in a really extravagant way - sell it all and give it all away to the poor. And then come… and follow.
This story challenges what people in the disciple’s day – and I dare say ours –think about money and riches. The disciples are surprised and confused when Jesus says, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"
But Jesus is not saying that wealth is bad but rather that there is a limit to what money can do. As the song says, “Money can’t buy you love.” And Jesus tells us: money can’t buy you salvation either.
Jesus illustrates his point with a pretty vivid picture, saying, “it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.”
It’s a funny image – a camel trying to get through a needle? But throughout the years… people haven’t been laughing. Instead, there have been lots of attempts to try to soften that statement of Jesus. At one time I heard a story of a gate in Jerusalem called “the eye of the needle” in which a camel had to get down on her knees and take everything off of her back in order to make it through the gate. It was a nice story. But.. it turns out that someone just made it up – just like people do today on social media. They wanted to find a loophole – a really big needle. But… sorry…there is no gate in Jerusalem like this.
Instead… Jesus is using hyperbole making a point… it’s impossible for a camel to get through a needle. But…those of you who are rich – do not despair! Jesus also says that what’s impossible for people, including those who are rich, is not impossible for God. Money can’t buy you love and money can’t buy you eternal life because neither one is for sale. Love is a gift from God and so is eternal life.
God is generous. And gives us so many gifts! So how do we respond? We can hoard the gifts that we have been given. But do you remember what happened when the Israelites hoarded the manna that God sent to feed them when they were traveling in the wilderness? It turned moldy – rotten – and they got sick when they ate it. In a similar way, I think the problem for the young man isn’t that he has wealth. The problem is that the wealth had him.
But that is not our only option.
I was at a conference a few years ago in which all of the participants were invited to bring a gift to give. This wasn’t for a silly gift giving game. Instead, this gift had to be something that we already owned and could not be worth – in monetary value – more than about $20. And it had to be something that we, ourselves loved. In other words – no cleaning out the cupboard and giving away what we were going to give to Good Will anyway. And… we had to be prepared to tell a story about the gift that we were giving.
The gifts were interesting. One woman was a talented musician and she brought a cd of her songs. Another person brought a signed copy of a book that they had loved. Still another brought a piece of jewelry, another brought a knife that they had carried with them for years. But it wasn’t the actual “stuff” that was given that touched my heart. It was the stories that were shared and the spirit of generosity that came from telling the story and giving away something that was important to you to someone else. The item was only a piece of the gift. The true gift was the relationship that grew as a result of sharing precious stories and giving a piece of yourself to someone else.
Jesus is generous – and gave himself to us. It is this kind of generosity that Paul invites us into as well.
Paul invites the Corinthians to give gifts joyfully and out of a sense of gratitude to God – not only to support the mission of the church and the “bare needs of poor Christians” but also, so that we all join together in praise and thanksgiving to God for all of God’s gifts.
It is out of a spirit of gladness and generosity that Paul urges them and us to “show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone.” So that others can see the extravagance of God’s work in your lives and respond with thanksgiving to God in prayer. We are called into the community of Christ. Thanking God for this gift, his gift, we respond to the gifts of God with joy, generosity and thanksgiving. “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” Amen.
Faith -Lilac Way Lutheran Church October 24, 2021 Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane
1 Rev. Karl Jacobson, October 10, 2021 http://www.goodshepherdmpls.org/worship