Archives by: Gary Hoag

There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to Him, asking Him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with Him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to Him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. Luke 7:2-10

“As we turn to the New Testament, we find not only examples of friendship relations (e.g. Paul and Philemon, Paul and the Philippian Christians, Herod and Pilate after the trial of Jesus), patron-client relationships (like, most probably, Theophilus and Luke) and public beneficence (like the centurion who showed uncommon generosity toward the local Jewish population in Luke 7:2–10) among people, for which the foregoing discussion is immediately relevant. We also find New Testament authors — like Jewish and Greco-Roman authors — using the language of patronage and reciprocity to give expression to supernatural or unseen realities, especially our relationship with God and God’s Messiah. Even their use of family imagery (e.g., calling God “father” and speaking of the “household of God”) connects with the image of the patron who brings a host of clients into the “household”, although now with the special status of adopted daughters and sons.”

David DeSilva in An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods, and Ministry Formation (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2004) 293.

DeSilva shifts in his narrative from generosity in the ancient world to examples in the New Testament. Again, I am exploring his writings as he’s from the part of the world where I am serving the next two weeks.

He speaks of these cultural realities linked to generosity that appear in the New Testament: Friendship, Patron-Client Relations, and Public Beneficence. Let’s ponder their relevance to us today.

We give for all three reason. Think about your friendship giving. Last night, I enjoyed dinner in the home of GTP board vice chair, Sanjay Patra. It was priceless time. And he gave me some “South Indian coffee” as a gift.

Each time I drink it I will think of him and his dear family. That’s friendship giving. I can imagine the biblical friendship between Paul and Philemon for example. He would stay with him on their visits.

Then you have Patron-Client relationship giving. It reminds me of major foundation grants GTP has received. They give the gifts because they share the vision of the work of GTP but they have expectations linked to reporting or other things.

When I think of this in NT terms, I think of the comprehensive work that Luke undertook with Theophilus. Imagine getting a grant to write a comprehensive account of Jesus. Not a small project. It was likely a multi-year grant.

And then you have public beneficence. This represents generosity that touches everyone. Today I will lead a seminar for IndiaDonates. I am doing this in Dehli, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Why do this?

There are nonprofit organizations that serve humanitarian causes in areas of great need, like putting toilets in towns with no toilets or setting up medical centers. And so in addition to GTP work, I do seminars for these groups to strengthen their service.

It provides public benefit and the nonprofit workers really appreciate it, as does the Indian government, who welcomes me into their country. Pray for this strategic work to bless many in the name of Jesus. Thanks.

And ponder your generosity today. Will you bless someone through friendship? Might God call you to make a major gift  like the patron-client gifts do over a span of years. Or is God moving you to make a contribution for public beneficence? 

If you have not made a gift to GTP this year, or want to help support our current efforts, please give here. Pray with us that God supplies at least $14,000 and rallies about 30 more gives to help us reach targets set for us by foundations. Thanks.

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Luke 6:35

“According to ancient ethicists writing about giving, benefactors were to give without calculation of reward. Giving was to have in view the interest of the recipient, not the self-interest of the giver. When forming personal ties of patronage, however, patrons were cautioned to select their beneficiaries well, which meant selecting people who had a reputation for honoring the giver with gratitude. In exceptional circumstances, however, a patron could be exhorted to give even to a known ingrate, thus imitating the generosity of the gods.”

David DeSilva in An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods, and Ministry Formation (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2004) 293.

DeSilva represents the voice of a biblical scholar with roots from the region where I am serving the next two weeks so it will be interesting to read his writings while abroad.

I love how he presents from his research that God’s posture toward us is simply divine.

As you think about your generosity toward others, do you give to the “known ingrate” or only those you deem deserving. Fascinating that when each of us was in that spot, God lavished grace on us.

And notice the giving has the view of the interest of the recipient and not the self-interest of the giver.

This runs countercultural to giving in my country, USA. We tend to give to the things we care about. Imagine if every follower of Jesus decided instead to give to the things Jesus cares about. It would be world-changing and divine.

I pray that God will give me opportunities in India to extend divine generosity. And same for you where you are.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3

“Most people – and to some extent all of us – lead a meaningless and purposeless life. We do not always know the meaning of what happens at present, the purpose of human existence and the direction for the future. One could just be drifting, subject to various forces, like a boat on the sea or lake at the mercy of the winds; or one could just be carried by mere routine, moving in a rut; or one could be caught up in a vicious circle not knowing, and helpless to come out of it; and one could also be a part of a machine leading a mechanical life.

Further, one could also be leading a very peripheral and superficial life on the margin of self and on the margin of society. Which is worse is one could also be, consciously or unconsciously, in a state of holiness and isolation, left to oneself and centered on self, with all doors and horizons closed, related with neither the Other nor the others, the only reality being self. To have none but oneself is a state of non-existence and non-person. It is also a state of chaos and void: ‘Tohu bohu’.

It is then that the Spirit of the Lord hovers over it. It is then that the Word of God manifests itself with dynamism. It becomes a fresh a creative and transforming Word; order and harmony come into existence; light begins to shine; an opening is made on the horizon; something happens at the core of oneself. Call it intervention of God or irruption of the Spirit, call it the explosive manifestation of the immanent word or the opening out to the dimension of transcendence. A vision of the goal appears and it sheds light on everything gives meaning to everything.”

D. S. Amalorpavadass in “Renewal by Encounter between the Word and the People” in Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World, ed. R.S. Sugirtharajah (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2006) 317.

God spoke light and meaning when everything was chaos and void or in Hebrew, Tohu bohu. We get to do the same thing where God leads us. For me, it’s India over the next two weeks.

Here Amalorpavadass, an Indian scholar, celebrates what God does in such settings through the power of the Word. The truth brings light and meaning and sets people free.

Pray for me as I prepare to teach from the Word on Sunday in Delhi. And wherever you are, shamelessly and boldly share the Word. It’s the greatest gift you can give people because it brings light and meaning to life.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Matthew 11:5

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” Luke 4:18

Looking at His disciples, He said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke 6:20

“In only three New Testament texts (Matthew 11:5 = Luke 7:22; Luke 4:18; and Luke 6:20) is the meaning of ptōchos in dispute. These are the texts in which Jesus announces ‘the privilege of the poor’. The ‘poor’ have the ‘good news’ preached to them (Matthew 11:5; Luke 4:18), for the Kingdom of God is theirs (Luke 6:20).

How then are we to understand these ptōchoî, the privileged beneficiaries of Jesus’ preaching to whom the Kingdom of God is exclusively promised? Are they spiritually poor whose religious attitude of openness and trust disposes them to receive God’s love? Or are they the sociologically poor whose situation of social deprivation invites God’s saving action on their behalf?

Western exegesis, part of the immense ideological production of an affluent and intensely acquisitive society built on principles diametrically opposed to those of Jesus has tended to the first option, and has tried systematically to spiritualize the gospel understanding of the poor…

This tendency to spiritualize the poor of the Beatitudes which cuts across all denominational differences and brings together exegetes who would otherwise agree on scarcely anything else, is a good indication of the extent to which exegetical trends are in fact determined by the spirit of the times…

There may indeed still be scholars who would like to understand the poor of the New Testament, specifically those to whom Jesus promised the Kingdom, as the spiritually poor. But there is a growing consensus today that in the New Testament, even more than the Old, the word ‘poor’ is a sociological category in the three good-news-to-the-poor texts mentioned above.”

George M. Soares-Prabhu in “Class in the Bible: The Biblical Poor as a Social Class?” in Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World, ed. R.S. Sugirtharajah (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2006) 155-156.

Reading scholars from India and Asia really helps me understand how people in this context read the Scriptures. And I am learning new things from them. Consider for example, today’s meditation linked to these three Scriptures.

If you read the whole chapter (I am reading an online version in internet library to which I have access), Soares-Prabhu explains the use of this language in the OT points to the sociologically poor.

And, he also shines light on the bias of most scholars who tend to come from the Western setting and who tend to spiritualize these NT texts. In so doing, I think he’s right that though we may all agree, we miss the point.

In places with poverty, God hears the cries of the poor. He wants us, His people to minister to them. Think: Mother Teresa turning brokenness to blessing among the poorest of poor in the gutters of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India.

And consider with me the connection between sociological poverty and trusting God. Soares-Prabhu explains in his piece that the sociologically rich tend to hold on to and trust in money to care for them and meet their needs.

I (wrongly!) did this for years. People called it good stewardship. Yet, it requires no faith to stockpile wealth for yourself. Jesus calls it foolish because our heart always follows the money and reveals our misplaced trust.

Soares-Prabhu continues that the sociologically poor have no wealth to give them comfort or in which to place (or misplace!) their trust. So they cry out to God. And He’s there for them. He hears them.

Consider where you fit in the story. Are you sociologically rich or sociologically poor? Are you spiritually rich or spiritually poor? Be honest with yourself. Your eternal destiny may depend on it. Material blessings always come with a test.

They can turn us corrupt or allow us to serve as conduits of blessing. But most Americans try to have their cake and eat it to. They think you can be materially rich and spiritually rich.

They point to Abraham or other biblical patriarchs. In response, I always remind them that such people amassed wealth, but it was always for a purpose, to not stay with them but to be enjoyed and shared by those around them.

And being in India brings to mind the famous saying from Thornton Wilder: ““Money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging young things to grow.”

I say that because often in India we see cows walking around or manure in the streets. Rather than taint my attitude, I am saying the quote to myself. We need to spread around the resources God gives us to help things grow.

If you have resources, spread them around. At GTP we will steward them to serve the sociologically rich (urging them to grow as conduits of blessing) the sociologically poor (teaching them to use faithfully whatever they have), the spiritually rich (strengthening their faith) and the spiritually poor (helping them grow in their grasp of accountability and generosity).

And consider GTP in your giving today. We still need $15,416 by 30 June 2024 to meet budget (and cover the cost of this trip) and we need about 50 more givers (of any size) to position us to apply for another major grant to add two staff. Give here today.

On Friday morning, Anand Joshua and I fly from Hyderabad (pictured above) to Delhi for high level strategic meetings regarding the future of peer accountability in India. And it will be hot there: 110°F / 43°C. Pray for us.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:7-10

“Exodus reveals what anyone who participates in the struggle for liberation comes eventually to realize: God is on the side of the oppressed and downtrodden and will always give encouragement and protection to them.”

Cyris H. M. Moon in “A Korean Minjung Perspective: The Hebrews and The Exodus” in Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World, ed. R.S. Sugirtharajah (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2006) 243.

I have arrived safely in Hyderabad, India. I snapped this photo from the top floor of my hotel. It’s a beautiful day. It gives me hope for great trip to India.

God’s people are oppressed and downtrodden here. The country has 1.5 billion people. The leading religion is Hindu, followed by Muslim. Christians are the minority, but their presence is felt.

The FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) aims to hinder any outside support to Christian workers. So, they need training to raise local funds. That’s part of the reason I am here: to bring encouragement and coaching to do this.

But I am also here to show them how to ensure God’s protection. I have strategic meetings with leading Christian workers about bringing accountability to India. This is not a small vision. Only possible with God’s help. I appreciate your prayers.

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then He told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. John 2:1-11

“All through the Old Testament waters appear ‘now real, now symbolic, now gentle, now life-giving, now destructive and terrifying, now a trickle, now a torrent,’ In Cana we see it as a torrent – freely given and flowing over. Water in the Bible is always freely given – from the first book to the last.

In Genesis we read, “What all was Tohu-tohu (a mess) – waters were created and flowed freely. On the fifth day God said, ‘Let the waters abound with life’ and in Revelation we read, ‘Let him receive the water of life freely – who thirsts – come!’ The Garden of Eden had to abound in water.

‘The desert mind, thirsting for beauity, must be told that there was water to make it a paradise, a couple of trees and the four-branched rivers. Even when sin becomes prevalent, waters are still abundant, and the floodgates of heaven are opened, but now to punish man [in the Noah story].

Whether it is well water – or the rains sent by Yahweh – it is always in abundance – to show the greatness of His love. The floodwater covered the enemies of Israel as they tried to cross the Red Sea, until they sank into the depths like a stone: ‘Horse and chariot He cast into the sea’ (Exodus 15:1, 5).

When Moses struck the rock, waters gushed forth in abundance – a figure, too, of the waters that would gush forth from the side of Christ and become ‘waters of salvation,’ which Isaiah fortold we would draw with joy from the Savior’s fountains (Isaiah 12:3). The same superabundance is seen in the Gospels and in this miracle of Christ.”

S.R. Vandana in “Water – God’s Extravaganza: John 2:1-11” in Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World, ed. R.S. Sugirtharajah (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2006) 123.

I am enjoying this book with contributions from scholars from India and South Asia whilst I travel to this region. This reading seemed fitting as I crossed a lot of water, the Atlantic Ocean, last night.

Think about water in the biblical narrative. Vandana rightly recounts that it appears: ‘now real, now symbolic, now gentle, now life-giving, now destructive and terrifying, now a trickle, now a torrent.”

But it always appears freely from God and in superabundance. Ponder the significance of this: that God freely gives more than enough of the one thing everyone on earth needs to survive.

Consider also His miracle in Cana. Though His time had not yet come, Mary alerted Him to a need and He responded. Ponder how God shows up when we need Him, call to Him, and have no other hope.

Interestingly, He Himself will tell us to trust in Him and not money. When we hold on to money we tend to trust in it instead of Him. Let’s allow the superabundance of His provision of water to inform our generous sharing.

And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Exodus 33:19

“Jesus, as an initiator of a revitalization movement within Judaism, opened up another aspect of the God of Israel – God as merciful and compassionate. Jesus was not handing down new tradition. He was simply reiterating a forgotten aspect of God – that He was merciful and gracious (Exodus 34:6) – and as a consequence, Jesus was urging His contemporaries to show solidarity and compassion towards one another.

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Jesus’ healing miracles, His acceptance of the marginalized of the time – the sinners, tax-collectors, and the women – was an indication that (a) God’s mercy was available to the very people who were cut off by the pharisaical interpretation of the law, and (b) that this was available without an intermediaries such as the law or the temple.

It is not unreasonable to surmise that it was Jesus’ retrieval of the availability of God to people without any mediating agencies which caused Paul to rethink His ‘former life of Judaism’. It was Jesus’ announcement of God’s generosity to the people who are not normally within the pharisaic pale that contributed to His death. It is this death which becomes Paul’s gospel, because in this death God demonstrated that He had abolished the impediments and the powers that dominate human life.”

S. Wesley Ariarajah in “Interpreting John 14.6 in a Religiously Plural Society” in Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World, ed. R.S. Sugirtharajah (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2006) 358.

I head to India today for 2.5 weeks so I plan to read key Indian and South Asia biblical scholars and professors to understand the mindset of the people I will serve. I appreciate your prayers for safe travel.

This post reminds us of God’s generosity which takes the form of His merciful and compassionate posture toward those society deems as undeserving. In a caste society like India this is a big message.

Those on top like to stay there and those on the bottom seem to have less value and worth. This post reminds us that God’s mercy and compassion are for everyone. Jesus modeled this trait of God for us.

We need to model this for others. God help me show mercy, compassion, and generosity to everyone I meet in India. And help every reader spread these gifts even as we receive them.

And I failed to save yesterday’s post so if you read it again below it should all be there for your reading edification. Thanks again for your prayers for me as I travel.

Then a teacher of the law came to Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Matthew 8:19-20

“Simplify, simplify, simplify. The simpler you make your finances, the more time and energy you can invest in living a meaningful life.”

Travis Shelton in “750 Sessions, Oh My!” blog post on 5 June 2024. Check out these resources from Travis. Website: www.travisshelton.com / The Daily Meaning blog: www.travisshelton.com/blog / Podcast: https://podfollow.com/meaning-over-money

People ask me all the time, “Gary, how much is enough?”

I like to remind them to start by looking at Jesus. He did not have a hole or a nest. He lived simply with daily bread and clothing. He demonstrated the exhortation that Paul makes to Timothy.

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 1 Timothy 6:8

The example of Jesus and the exhortation of Paul are echoed by Travis. “Simplify, simplify, simplify.” We really don’t need most of the things we say we need beyond food and clothing.

I am not saying you cannot have a hole or nest to live in. Don’t hear me wrong.

I am saying, in agreement with Jesus, Paul, and Travis, to live as simply as possible so you have margin to live, give, serve, and love generously. God blesses you to be a blessing. Manage finances accordingly.

This marks my last post with comments from Travis, for now.

I need to shift my attention to India and writings to support and strengthen my service there from 18 June to 6 July 2024.

One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Proverbs 11:24-25

“Nothing changes lives like joyful and sacrificial generosity. Nothing! And I’m not talking about the recipient….the giver!”

Travis Shelton in “750 Sessions, Oh My!” blog post on 5 June 2024. Check out these resources from Travis. Website: www.travisshelton.com / The Daily Meaning blog: www.travisshelton.com/blog / Podcast: https://podfollow.com/meaning-over-money

I love how Travis put this. Because he’s right. Nothing changes your life more than choosing a path of generosity. Nothing.

As today marks Father’s Day in the USA and many other countries, I want to give a shout out to my father Jack, my uncle Jim, my brother David, my brother-in-law Tom, my son Sammy, and all the other fathers out there reading this.

Keep emptying yourself in service to others, trusting God to supply your needs and the needs of your loved ones.

Your joyful and sacrificial generosity to your wives, children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and others makes a difference. It models for them the way to live, and it blesses you in the process.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

“People are usually doing better than they think, but they have nothing to compare it to other than social media.”

Travis Shelton in “750 Sessions, Oh My!” blog post on 5 June 2024. Check out these resources from Travis. Website: www.travisshelton.com / The Daily Meaning blog: www.travisshelton.com/blog / Podcast: https://podfollow.com/meaning-over-money

Travis nails this one. God blesses us and we forget how much he has blessed us. We forget that we have His presence with us and in Him we have everything we need.

Comparing always, always, always gets us in trouble. It’s terrible stewardship. Rather than focusing on what we have we focus on what others have. This breeds discontentment.

If social media causes you to stumble, disconnect it. If any activity leads you to compare what you have with others, stop doing it. Comparison always leaves you feeling discontent.

All this hinders our generosity. Our living, giving, serving, and loving gets choked out because of overspending and discontentment. It snowballs into debt and we lose our capacity to give.

Imagine another story. Live that story. Pause to think about how you are really doing and what God has given you. Take time to give thanks and praise God for His blessings and His presence always.

And I thank God I got home safely from a deeply spiritual time in Wisconsin. On the last evening John and I had dinner at the Saint Francis Hermitage (pictured above). I loved the words on the painting: “Jesus I trust in you!”

I pray you take time to reflect this weekend. You doing better than the evil leads you to believe. And Jenni comes home from Black Rock Christian Camp & Retreat Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, today. It will be a special homecoming for sure.

For our part, we may be weary from our service, but we are “doing better” than we may think because Christ is with us, has gone before us, surrounds us with love, and strengthens our service.