http://bible.oremus.org/browser.cgi?passage=acts+2%3A42-47
Psalm 23
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1 Peter 2:19-25
http://bible.oremus.org/browser.cgi?passage=1+peter+2%3A19-25
John 10:1-10
http://bible.oremus.org/browser.cgi?passage=john+10%3A1-10
Well, tax time has come upon us, and if you’re anything like me, you’re not that thrilled about it. I don’t know anybody who particularly relishes the idea of sitting down with their T4s or T4As and calculating just how much money goes to the government. And I especially don’t know anybody who, when they’ve come to the end of their calculations and realize that they owe money to the government, is happy about it. I know I’m not. My partner is unemployed, I have a Student Loan to pay back, and now the government wants some of my money. It’s not that I begrudge them what I owe - I know that my taxes pay for things like roads and healthcare and schools for the children. It’s just that the thought of having less money than I did before makes me - well, it makes me anxious. I’m not sure that I have enough.
The other thing that makes me anxious when it comes to money is having to say "no" to all the people who are looking for some. Whether it’s homeless people on the street or charities who show up at the front door or organizations who call asking me to send poor kids to the next Raptors’ game, every time I get a request to give money to some cause or some person, I get anxious. I would love to give everybody money - if I could make being a philanthropist a career, that would be great. But I can’t - I’m not sure that I have enough.
And so, having said all of that, we come to today’s first reading from Acts. In it, Luke describes the earliest group of Christians in the following way: "all who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need." Well, I gotta tell you - anybody who lives in North America in the 21st century, and who takes the Bible seriously, is going to have problems with this text. Which may be why we tend to just gloss over it or ignore it altogether. Because in this text we are confronted with the way we are supposed to live as Christians, and we are forced to examine our relationship with money and possessions. And oh, the guilt that comes with doing that.
Because we don’t live anything like the early church did. I mean, sure, we try and give what we can, but we don’t check off the little box on our taxes that asks us if we would like to give more to help reduce the debt load - even though doing so would mean more money for schools and hospitals and public programs. And we definitely don’t go so far as to sell the things in our homes - all the things in our homes - and give the proceeds to charity. In fact, I doubt that any of us would even seriously consider doing such a thing. Would you sell anything that you owned to help somebody in need? Have you? When I think about what I own, and then about what I could sell, I start getting anxious. I mean, yeah, sure, I could probably sell some of my clothes, or my CDs, or maybe even my DVDs or books if I absolutely had to. But what about selling my car? Or my computer? Or my furniture? I don’t know about you, but I can’t possibly imagine selling those things in order to raise money to give to somebody else. I don’t know how I would manage without them. Can you?
I think that’s the problem, though - that we can’t imagine living without those things. I don’t think that people are hesitant to give because they’re mean or misanthropic. I think that we aren’t generous because we’re worried that there’s not enough to share. We don’t give because we don’t want to run out. We don’t help the needy because we don’t want to end up needy ourselves. We’ve heard too many times: first come, first served. Supplies are limited. Get yours before they’re all gone. With messages like those, it’s hard for us to see how it is that we have enough to answer our own needs and share with all the people who are in need. After all, there are a lot of people in need - is it really possible that there’s enough in the world for everybody?
Well, at the risk of sounding naive, impractical, and idealistic, I’m going to say, Yes, there is. There is enough for everybody because our God is a generous God, who shares an overabundance of gifts and life with us so that we can share with others. For instance, we just said the words of the 23rd Psalm. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters." Yes, this is poetry, but the psalmist is saying that because God is our shepherd, because God is the creator of this earth, because we confess that God is the baker of our daily bread, we can not possibly be in want because our God is so generous with us. I mean, just listen, "God makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters." It’s not enough for God to bring the sheep to a place with abundant, nourishing, flourishing green grass, but God actually makes them stay there and eat it. And this isn’t some vague, feel-good, God-provides-for-all platitude. This is concrete. In the Small Catechism, Luther explains the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," by saying that bread means "everything our body needs such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, fields, livestock, money, property, un upright spouse, upright children, upright members of the household, upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, decency, honour, good friends, faithful neighbours, and the like." When we say that God makes us lie down in green pastures and leads us beside still waters and gives us daily bread, we’re actually talking about concrete things.
And God gives us these things, Luther says, "out of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness of mine at all!" In other words, God gives us these things, not because we deserve it, not on the condition that we’ll share it, but simply because God is generous. These gifts are given to everybody - good and evil alike - to those who share and to those who don’t. The simple concrete things God gives us to live are gifts of pure grace.
And these things that God gives us means that there is enough. There is more than enough. There’s a traditional prayer at the Jewish Passover called Dayenu, which means "it would have been enough." It goes like this:
How many levels of favours has the Omnipresent One bestowed upon us:
If He had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against them, it would have been enough!
If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols, it would have been enough!
If He had destroyed their idols, and had not smitten their first-born, it would have been enough!
If He had smitten their first-born, and had not given us their wealth, it would have been enough!
If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us, it would have been enough!
If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land, it would have been enough!
If He had taken us through the sea on dry land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it , it would have been enough!
If He had drowned our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, it would have been enough!
If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and had not fed us the manna, it would have been enough!
If He had fed us the manna, and had not given us the Shabbat, it would have been enough!
If He had given us the Shabbat, and had not brought us before Mount Sinai, it would have been enough!
If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and had not given us the Torah, it would have been enough!
If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel, it would have been enough!
If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and had not built for us the Temple, it would have been enough!
Thus how much more so should we be grateful to the Omnipresent One for the doubled and redoubled goodness that He has bestowed upon us; for He has brought us out of Egypt, and carried out judgments against them, and against their idols, and smote their first-born, and gave us their wealth, and split the sea for us, and took us through it on dry land, and drowned our oppressors in it, and supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and fed us the manna, and gave us the Shabbat, and brought us before Mount Sinai, and gave us the Torah, and brought us into the land of Israel and built for us the Temple to atone for all our sins.
This is a prayer for us! If God had just given us life, it would have been enough. If God has just given us air to breathe, it would have been enough. If God had given us only bread to eat, it would have been enough. If God had given us only water to drink, it would have been enough. If God had given us only shelter, it would have been enough. If God had given us only forgiveness, it would have been enough. But thanks and praise to God who has given us life, and breath, and bread, and water, and shelter, and forgiveness, and of course the list goes on. God has given us more than enough. God has given us ourselves, and our time, and our possessions, all signs of a gracious God.
So what does all of this mean? It means that I can pay my taxes, I can give to people in need, I can even sell things that I own to share the proceeds with others. And I can be happy about it, because I have enough. Even if I had less, I would still have enough. I would still have life and breath and bread and water and shelter and forgiveness. And so would you.
Now, the model of the early church still stands before us, challenging us with its example. But I no longer feel anxious about it. We are not being challenged with the impossible, we are not being asked to reduce ourselves to nothing. In fact, I am hopeful that something can actually be done, and thankful that there is enough to go around. And when you look closely at the text, you’ll see that that’s the key to the early disciples’ behaviour. It’s the line that says, "they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God." Generosity and giving come from thankfulness and praise, from an awareness, brought by the Holy Spirit, of how generous and giving God has been towards us.
I want to end with a poem, this time by Sister Mary Jo Leddy. Mary Jo lives here in Toronto, and has, in fact, shared absolutely everything she has with refugees at a place called Romero House. This poem comes from her latest book, called "Radical Gratitude" and I suppose it’s actually more of a prayer than a poem.
We give You Thanks
for You sustain us
with real food
and real drink.
You nourish us
with friends as real as food
with joy as clear as water
with love as good as this meal.
This is enough.
We do not ask for more.
This is more than enough
reason to bless Your name
Forever.
Make us always mindful of those
who do not have enough
food and friendship
water and love and joy.
Give them enough
that they too may be thankful.
Amen.
for You sustain us
with real food
and real drink.
You nourish us
with friends as real as food
with joy as clear as water
with love as good as this meal.
This is enough.
We do not ask for more.
This is more than enough
reason to bless Your name
Forever.
Make us always mindful of those
who do not have enough
food and friendship
water and love and joy.
Give them enough
that they too may be thankful.
Amen.
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