Meditations

“Be not anxious! Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of all anxiety. If our hearts are set on them, our reward is an anxiety whose burden is intolerable. Anxiety creates its own treasures and they in turn beget further care. When we seek security in possessions we are trying to drive out care with care, and the net result is the precise opposite of our anticipations. The fetters which bind us to our possessions prove to be cares themselves.

The way to misuse our possessions is to use them as an insurance against the morrow. Anxiety is always directed to the morrow, whereas goods are in the strictest sense meant to be used only for today. By trying to ensure for the next day we are only creating uncertainty today. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. The only way to win assurance is by leaving tomorrow entirely in the hands of God and by receiving from Him all we need for today. If instead of receiving God’s gifts for today we worry about tomorrow, we find ourselves helpless victims of infinite anxiety.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) in The Cost of Discipleship (New York: SCM Press, 1959) 178.

These words of Bonhoeffer come from his comments on the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matthew 6:25-34). He thoughtfully explains what happens when we misuse our possessions and look for security in the wrong place. Sound familiar? Our society seems to me like a sea of “helpless victims of infinite anxiety.” If you find yourself feeling troubled, I suggest meditating on Matthew 6:25-34 and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what steps you should take linked to your handling of possession to find freedom from anxiety.

“Our churches can do little to change economic reality on the macro level. Plant closings, unchecked suburban growth, and population booms and busts are not trends that the church in its ordinary operations can affect. Yet at the micro level, at the level of the congregation, we can do much to live in the broader economy constituted by God and not only in the economy as narrowly construed by those who measure employment, prices, and interest rates.

Congregations can be substitutes for the country club, or they can serve as a witness to God’s alternative economy. That is, they can accept and affirm the status quo, or they can place what seems to be given realities in a larger moral framework that calls into question the debilitating assumptions of the status quo. The church’s message to the world is that there is much more to live than meets the eye. God’s alternative economy is, if we will let it be, more real that the closed-universe economy in which we constantly feel ourselves to be trapped.”

James Hudnut-Beumle in Generous Saints: Congregations Rethinking Ethics and Money (Herndon: Alban Institute, 1999) 21-22.

What a line! “Congregations can be substitutes for the country club, or they can serve as a witness to God’s alternative economy.” What message do our churches send to the world? There is more to life than working for money and trying to amass possessions! Congregations must help people realize that life according to the world’s economy is nothing but a dead-end roadway filled with disillusionment.

Life in God’s economy is rooted in the realization that in Him we have everything we need and obedience to God’s Word is the only pathway to individual and community flourishing. We must make this known with the same love that Paul urged Timothy to further it in Ephesus in the first century.

As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the [economy] of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:3-5

“Paul speaks of [the Jerusalem] collection in terms that are full of theological content: “fellowship” (2 Corinthians 8:4; 9:13; Romans 15:26), “service” (2 Corinthians 8:4; 9:1, 12, 13; Romans 15:31), “grace” (2 Corinthians 8:4, 6, 7, 19), “blessing” (2 Corinthians 9:5), “divine service” (2 Corinthians 9:12; cf. Romans 15:27).

All of this together suggests that the “collection” was not some mere matter of money, but was for Paul an active response to the grace of God that not only ministered to the needs of the Lord’s people but also became a kind of ministry to God as well, which resulted in thanksgiving toward God and in a bond of fellowship between “the Lord’s people” across the Empire.”

Gordon D. Fee in The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987) 898.

Since the Apostle Paul talked about giving with “terms that are full of theological content” I believe we should too, as giving is “not some mere matter of money!” The spiritual growth of stewards is at stake. Giving is “an active response to the grace of God.”

“What exactly is wrong with desiring money too much? Put in the biblical context, what difference does it make to God if the ancient Israelites worship a golden calf [cf. Exodus 32]? Why should He care if people love money more than God and neighbor? God cares about these matters because He cares about us…love of money does not hurt God, it does not diminish God Himself in the least if we do not worship Him…love of money hurts us…

When love of riches grows too strong, other sins typically follow: neglecting family to pursue career, donating little or nothing to charity, leaving inappropriately meager tips for help staff…devoting unreasonable time and attention to financial matters…lying to get more money, taking financial advantage of people…Greed…leads to the harm of others rather than the service of others…Simply put, if we love money more than God and more than other people, we make ourselves–usually sooner rather than later–miserable.”

Christopher Kaczor in The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church: Distinguishing Fact from Fiction about Catholicism (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2012) 52-53.

The Apostle Paul warns us that the love of money is a “root of all kinds of evil” which has led many to wander away from the faith and pierce themselves with many pains (cf. 1 Timothy 6:10). Kaczor does a good job showing how this thinking reveals itself in the activities of life and leads “to the harm of others rather than the service of others.”

Father in Heaven, convict us, by your Holy Spirit, of any greed or avarice that may hinder our love for You, our service of others, and seek to ruin our lives. Conform each of us to the image of your son, Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 2 Corinthians 9:11-12

“The message from [the Apostle] Paul is not primarily that we will be blessed if we are generous. Rather, the point is that we must be generous in thanksgiving of the many blessings already received. Our generosity then will lead others, especially the recipients, to thank God who is the source of every good. It is this God who moves us to be charitable in the distribution of our resources. Will we in turn be rewarded for our generosity? Perhaps, but the focus here is on God, the bestower of all that is good and the one who has put us in a position to be generous.

Homilies or talks during financial stewardship campaigns occasionally seek to assure listeners that blessings will come their way if they give generously. They have it backwards. We should give generously because we already have been blessed by a loving God. There is nothing wrong with believing that our generosity will be rewarded by God but that should not be the motivation for our giving. We give out of grateful hearts because God has blessed us already and we want our act of sharing to give glory to God.”

Bernard F. Evans in Stewardship: Living a Biblical Call (Collegeville: OSB, 2014) 124.

After Easter too many pastors will focus on “casting vision to people and promising rich blessings from God” in order to increase giving. My prayer is that those reading this will shift their focus to “giving thanks to God and encouraging joyful giving from people” in order to increase glory to God. The former is yet another illustration of “the love of money” in the modern world, while the latter demonstrates “the love of God” in action. When the focus shifts, the glory shifts and that’s not a good thing. Do you have it backwards?

“When my wife died the world seemed to die with her. I see little now, but my ministry and my Christian profession, to make a continuance in life, for a single day, desirable; though I am willing to wait until my appointed time. If the world cannot restore her to me, it can do nothing for me. The Bank of England is too poor to compensate for such a loss as mine. But the Lord, the all-sufficient God, speaks, and it is done. Let those who know Him, and trust Him, be of good courage. He can give them strength according to their day; He can increase their strength as their trials are increased, to any assignable degree. And what He can do, He has promised He will do.”

John Newton (1725-1807), former slave trader, preacher, and author of the famous hymn, Amazing Grace (1799), in “A Relation of some Particulars, respecting the Cause, Progress, and Close of the last Illness of my late dear Wife,” in The Works of the Rev. John Newton, Volume IV (New Haven: Nathan Whiting, 1824) 212.

Why conclude Lent with this statement from Newton?

Everyone reading this has experienced brokenness, is currently enduring difficulty, or will someday suffer great trials. The gospel is not a magic wand to make our troubles go away. In the midst of our pain, Newton rightly announces, “But the Lord, the all-sufficient God, speaks, and it is done.” Jesus proclaims peace! Because of the resurrection that we celebrate today, we know that all Jesus promised He will do, and someday, thanks to His great love and grace, He will make all things new.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

As we move from this season of Lent (where we have focused on growing in our understanding and practice of the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and giving to those in need) to living the rest of our lives, let us depend on the strength of God to share the precious gift of the peace of Christ in word and deed with a lost and hurting world. Should trials bombard us along the way, Newton would remind each of us to proclaim: ’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

“At the heart of this celebration, which seems so festive, are the words we heard in the hymn of the Letter to the Philippians: “He humbled Himself” (2:8). Jesus’ humiliation. These words show us God’s way and the way of Christians: it is humility. A way which constantly amazes and disturbs us: we will never get used to a humble God…

This is God’s way, the way of humility. It is the way of Jesus; there is no other. And there can be no humility without humiliation. Following this path to the full, the Son of God took on the “form of a slave” (cf. Philippians 2:7). In the end, humility means service. It means making room for God by stripping oneself, “emptying oneself”, as Scripture says (v. 7). This is the greatest humiliation of all.

There is another way, however, opposed to the way of Christ. It is worldliness, the way of the world. The world proposes the way of vanity, pride, success…the other way. The evil one proposed this way to Jesus too, during His forty days in the desert. But Jesus immediately rejected it. With Him, we too can overcome this temptation, not only at significant moments, but in daily life as well.

In this, we are helped and comforted by the example of so many men and women who, in silence and hiddenness, sacrifice themselves daily to serve others: a sick relative, an elderly person living alone, a disabled person…

We think too of the humiliation endured by all those who, for their lives of fidelity to the Gospel, encounter discrimination and pay a personal price. We think too of our brothers and sisters who are persecuted because they are Christians, the martyrs of our own time. They refuse to deny Jesus and they endure insult and injury with dignity. They follow Him on his way. We can speak of a “cloud of witnesses” (cf. Hebrews 12:1).

Let us set about with determination along this same path, with immense love for Him, our Lord and Savior. Love will guide us and give us strength. For where He is, we too shall be (cf. John 12:26). Amen.”

Pope Francis in Palm Sunday Homily delivered at St. Peter’s Square on 29 March 2015 (Vatican Radio).

Pope Francis points us to a powerful text. Let us meditate on Philippians 2:1-11 today, Holy Week Saturday. Therein, the Apostle Paul announces that Jesus was “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Do we imitate Christ’s humility, service, and obedience? Or do we conform to the pattern of the world (cf. Romans 12:1-2)?

Take ten minutes today and pray for Christians around the world. Many imitate Christ’s humility through serving the sick or the elderly. Some have wandered down the path of worldliness. Others, for naming Jesus as “Lord and Savior,” are suffering martyrdom. What about you? In life after Lent, what path will you take, humility or worldliness?

“The death [Jesus] died, he died to sin once for all (cf. Colossians 2:15). Thus, if our bodies are the members of Christ, then our flesh is the flesh of Christ. And while we are on earth we crucify it and through it we put to death impurity, lust, evil desire, and avarice…But it takes no small effort to live in the present age in such a way that the life of Jesus is revealed in our flesh right now, for our mortal bodies will accordingly be made alive through the Spirit who dwells within us.”

St. Jerome (347-420) or “Dr. Jerome” as I like to refer to him because he was likely the most learned of the Four Doctors of the Western Church, in his Commentary on Galatians (Washington, DC: CUA, 2010) 241.

Jerome makes the profound point that we don’t just “put off” or “put away” sins like avarice, which is the opposite of generosity, we “put to death” avarice! As you reflect on the cross today, “put to death” impurity, lust, evil desire, avarice, and other sins which beset you. Be crucified with Christ, as described by the Apostle Paul.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:19b-20

Living by faith in the Son of God is not easy! Jerome, the wise doctor, adds: “it takes no small effort to live in the present age in such a way that the life of Jesus is revealed in our flesh right now.” Thankfully, the Spirit which dwells within us makes us alive, so let us rest in the truth that God will do all this for His glory and because of His great love.

“When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love, and praise their Creator.”

Basil of Caesarea, a.k.a. “Basil the Great” (330-379) in Hom. in Julittam martyrem.

Many will observe a Passover meal or Seder dinner today or sometime during Holy Week. We do this to remember that God saved His people from bondage in the days of Exodus and to celebrate the miraculous deliverance that foreshadowed the work of Christ for all humankind on the cross.

At your ceremonial meal or sometime this week with family or friends, read this prayer when you sit down to eat and give thanks to God in your hearts. Do this so as not forget all His benefits. Read a Scripture along with it too, such as Psalm 103.

Today is known as “Silent Wednesday” as little is known of the events on this day in the Passion Week. We can surmise that the disciples would have been reflecting on Jesus’ teachings the day before, the last of which in Matthew’s account was “the parable of the sheep and the goats” (Matthew 25:31-46). Epiphanius the Latin offers this comment about eternal punishment and eternal life at the conclusion of this parable.

“You see, my beloved, there is no excuse for it. They knew what they had to do in this world. But greed and ill-will prevented them, so they laid up for themselves not treasures for the future but for the world of the dead. Neither were they condemned because of the active wrong they did, nor did the Lord say to them, Depart from me, you wicked, because you committed murder or adultery or theft. But instead: because I was hungry and thirsty in my servants, and you did not minister to me.”

Epiphanius the Latin (late fifth, early sixth century) in Interpretation of the Gospels 38 as recounted in Ancient Christian Commentary on the Scriptures: Matthew 14-28, Vol. Ib, ed. Manlio Simonetti (Downers Grove: IVP, 2002) 228.

Epiphanius the Latin was likely the bishop of either Benevento, Italy or Seville, Spain during the era referred to as “the dark ages.” He got my attention with this expression: “the world of the dead.” With this exhortation, he is effectively saying: “You know what you need to do. Deploy yourselves and the resources in your care in obedience and you will take hold of life. Failure to do so is nothing more than hoarding them in the world of the dead, and this effectively demonstrates your disobedience and foreshadows your own doom.”

Times seem dark today too. Many are living for “the world of the dead.” Regardless of what everyone else is doing, let’s respond to this exhortation of Epiphanius and join the ranks of the sheep in Matthew 25:31-46. Reflect on the parable again, and let’s resolve together not to live for “the world of the dead” but in life after Lent let’s demonstrate our obedience through our deeds.