In both our gospel reading from last Sunday (Luke 12:13-21) and the passages that follow (12:22-31 and 32-34), Jesus addresses our relationship to money. He makes three basic points: guard against covetousness (13-21), don’t be anxious about money (22-31), and be sacrificially generous to those in need (32-34). All of these commands are part of a larger teaching about what it means to be faithfully prepared for the coming Son of Man.
Underneath these commands are three foundational truths. The first is that we are deeply valuable to God the Father (v. 7), who will provide all that we need (v. 31). The second is that true life only comes from God, and not from our money or possessions (v. 15). And the third is that our money both reveals and changes our hearts (v. 34).
Each of us probably struggles to believe one or another of these truths. Face-to-face with a month with too many bills, it can be difficult to believe that God will provide all that we need. Anxiety over money is a fairly natural response! And it is difficult to persuade ourselves that a new purchase won’t add to our life—we usually want the item because we feel it will enhance our lives! Finally, most of us never consider that our purchases reveal our hearts and can change them.
Yet throughout this chapter, Jesus encourages us to be “rich toward God,” and “seek his kingdom.” These aren’t abstract truths in context. Instead, they are Jesus’ description of the person who generously gives to those in need. It is in generosity that we seek the kingdom; it is in generosity that we become rich toward God. As Jesus said, “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail…For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
I assume that this statement was as radical in the 1st Century as it is now. It cuts against all of our basic patterns of life, asking of us something that seems outlandish, impossible, and unwise. Most of us probably cannot imagine how we might begin to follow Jesus in this. (The short answer is, “one step at a time, as the Spirit prompts you.”)
But the promises of Jesus stand. You are deeply valuable to the Father, and he will take care of you. All that his children need will be provided to them. We don’t need to be anxious about money or hoard it to protect ourselves, because true treasure is only in heaven. When we begin to trust this, we can give freely to others.
Steven+
Scripture Reflections
When the serpent tempted Eve, he did so by casting doubt on the character of God. Once Adam and Eve doubted whether God was trustworthy and good, they would be willing to do anything. The rest of mankind has followed Adam and Eve into this mistrust, assuming that God does not have our best interests at heart, assuming that we can discover goodness for ourselves in some other way than the one set by God.
God kept communicating his goodness and trustworthiness to mankind, though! He sent rain and fruitfulness to the earth as a testimony of his kindness (Acts. 14:17). Creation itself is enough to prove that God is good, yet the history of humanity shows our refusal to honor him or thank him for his kindness (Rom. 1:19-21).
Even those of us who believe in our minds that he is good struggle at times to trust in our hearts his goodness. There are so many times where we try to chart our own course, rather than follow him, because we trust our own instincts for what makes life good more than we trust his word. Much of our sin springs simply from lack of faith that God will be good to us. But to people like us, people who struggled to trust the goodness of God, Jesus spoke clearly:
“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13)
The word of Jesus concerning the Father is clear. His character is better than the best of human fathers. He will be kind to his children. And Jesus’ word can be trusted, because he guaranteed it with his life itself.
So the question for us is simple—will we trust that God is good to his children? Will we lay down our own agenda and simply follow him, trusting that he will be better to us than we could ever be to ourselves?
Steven+
Scripture Reflections
The story of Martha and Mary (Sunday’s Gospel reading) needs to be read in context. While this could be said of every Bible passage, there are some that we are more inclined to mishear than others, and this is one of those!
Without context, we might think, “If no one did the work, and everyone sat at the feet of Jesus listening, the meal would never get served! Is the contemplation of Jesus really more important than serving someone in need? Does that mean theologians and preachers are closer to heaven than school teachers, nurses, and janitors?”
But this story doesn’t come by itself—it is “sandwiched” between two other stories. These three stories are best read together, rather than alone. Immediately before Martha and Mary is the Good Samaritan, where we hear the call to love with practical actions those in need. And right after Martha and Mary is Jesus’ teaching on how to pray, specifically his encouragement to pray that God would send the Holy Spirit to us. These three stories together present a rich picture of discipleship as the life of loving people with God’s love as we seek the empowerment of the Spirit through prayer.
In that context, listening to Jesus is not set in competition with acts of love, nor is it set in competition with prayer. Jesus’ response to Martha does make it clear that listening to him is the most important thing a disciple does, but it is not the only thing.
Perhaps the best way of characterizing it is that listening to Jesus is the first thing a disciple does, because it is the foundation and root of everything else. Out of listening to Jesus grows active love for our neighbors, and out of it grows a vigorous prayer life. None of these three are dispensable, but listening to Jesus needs to come first, because his words are the only sufficient foundation for a life of love and prayer. Martha’s issue was not that she served and worked, but instead that her work kept her heart from being attentive to Jesus. When we work without listening to Jesus, we end up working in a way that does nothing for the kingdom of God.
The call, then, for us, is to let our prayer and work flow from a listening and attentive heart. The more we listen, the more our prayer and work will become what God wants them to be.
Steven+