"Seven Habits of Discipleship: Tithing
Mark 12: 41-44; Luke 19: 29-42
Rev. Kathryn Threadgill
Associate Pastor
March 28, 2010
Have you seen the Food Network television show called “Chopped?” In this show 4 chefs are given a mystery basket of ingredients, which they have to put together in 3 rounds to make an appetizer, entrée, and dessert course. Each round, the chef who fails to incorporate all the mystery ingredients into a complete dish is then chopped by the judges. The mystery boxes can contain such ingredients like feta cheese, plantains, a rack of lamb, and gold fish.
Well, when I got the assignment to preach on Palm Sunday with the Baptism of Sims Brown on the topic of “tithing,” I, admittedly, felt like I was on an episode of “Chopped.” And, the mystery basket this week contains the ingredients of…..Palm Sunday – where Jesus enters Jerusalem and He weeps….the Baptism of Sims and all the joy it contains….and the dreaded topic of tithing? I fear these ingredients do not make for a coherent dish, and I might be chopped.
I mean, come on, it’s Palm Sunday! It’s the parade of Jesus….can’t we just rejoice, process, and forget about that “tithing thing” for a day?! The Scene is set…..shouts of Hosanna can be heard throughout the world…as Christ’s disciples’ proclaim, “blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven.” Luke’s gospel entitles this passage the “triumphal entry,” ….but what are we really celebrating? What is the triumph?
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem marks the beginning of Holy Week. These are the final days of Jesus Christ here on earth... Though, the disciples celebrate Jesus, and they wave their palm branches and lay down their cloaks in reverent shouts of praise…. Jesus knows what lies before Him; He knows where this road is taking Him. Why else do you think our Savior needed to ride in on a humble donkey? A measly, smelly animal used to do the hard manual labor of the people. And, as Jesus “triumphantly” enters Jerusalem it is actually the 10th day of the Jewish Rite of Passover….and on the 10th day it is custom to select the ritual lamb that is to be sacrificed. This is why John’s gospel depicts Christ as the ultimate “Sacrificial lamb.” The offering has been chosen, according to the will of the Father, see it is Jesus who enters into the city on a humble donkey.
So, what are we celebrating today? What is the triumph in this? Why are we rejoicing? Nevermind, our savior is going to His death…Nevermind, on average we only give about 2% of our earnings to the church….Nevermind, we don’t give of our time and talents, because we’re far to committed to other things…We still rejoice…We rejoice and shout Hosanna at the good we do accomplish…at the ways we do give…at the earthly peace this brings us. But, you know the true irony about this scene is that as the disciples are rejoicing in their triumphs….Jesus enters the city to become the sacrificial lamb….and He cried…He wept for His people, saying, “If you had only recognized on this day the things that bring you peace…but now they are hidden from your eyes.”
We don’t get it…The true peace is hidden from our eyes. So then it begs the question… what is Peace? Perhaps it’s having security and peace of mind as the insurance commercials tell us? Maybe it’s in knowing our loved ones are provided for and taken care of? Maybe it’s when we work hard and live comfortably in the benefits of our labor? What defines our peace? See, we all want financial stability, good healthcare, job security, and if we’re truly “at peace,” we have a retirement plan that’s not fallen through yet. This is our peace…peace in this world….and it’s not to say external peace is all together bad or unimportant….
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a book entitled “Strength to Love,” in it he writes, “We have both a privilege and a duty to seek the basic material necessities of life. Only an irrelevant religion fails to be concerned about man’s economic well-being. Religion at its best realizes that the soul is crushed as long as the body is tortured with hunger pangs and harrowed with the need for shelter. Jesus realized that we need food, clothing, shelter, and economic security. But, Jesus also knew that man was more than a dog to be satisfied by a few economic bones.”
Our notions of external peace are important, but the Peace of God is what truly satisfies our souls. When we give…when we tithe in God’s peace, whether out of our abundance or our poverty, it is then that we have cause to rejoice! And, here…finally, is the triumph, the celebration…..See, Christ knew the only way we would be opened to see and share in God’s peace, was through His ultimate offering. And so, our God took on human form, He entered Jerusalem on a donkey, and offered Himself as the sacrificial lamb to be slaughtered, so that the veil might be torn…the blinders removed….and we might see the Peace of God, which truly satisfies our souls forever.
Maybe this is why the widow’s coins found favor for Jesus to comment on. Because, in faith, she gave all she had to God, not only in the hopes that He would provide, but in the truth that one day she would stand face to face with her maker and He would look upon her with such love, and she would fully see and know the peace of God.
God says, “My peace, I give unto you. It’s a peace that the world cannot give. It’s a peace that the world cannot understand. Peace to know. Peace to live. My peace, I give unto you.” God offered up everything in His Son, so that we might know His peace. He held nothing back when He told Christ to follow the path into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday all the way to the cross and beyond the tomb. Why is it then that we still struggle to tithe even a portion? What prevents us from fully rejoicing in God’s peace, through Christ’s triumph?
At the Officers Retreat I sat in on a stewardship group and I asked them why Tithing was not easier for us as Christians to do, let alone talk about? The general feedback I heard were things like, “Oh, because money is way too personal. No one likes to talk about money.” Or I heard, “When we do tithe, we want to know and see what it is going to in the church.” Now, the first comment of money not being something we like to talk about, I don’t buy, because we are the family of God, the body of Christ…I believe that the way we lift one another up in prayer during life’s most trying circumstances, is the same way we should be able to talk about our money. Remember, as the body – when one part is suffering, we all suffer with it, and when one rejoices, we all rejoice.
However, the second statement could be argued this day in age. When we give to charities and causes, such as relief efforts in Haiti, we want to know the money is getting to the people, and making a difference in their lives. When we volunteer for a charity or cause we want to know our gifts and time are being put to good use and valued. And so, why would your tithe to the church be any different. So, let’s look at what your tithe and giving might look like in God’s peace…..
When Sims Brown….or any other child we baptize….grows up in this church, and attends Sunday School and vacation Bible School it’s your tithes which buy him the curriculum….it’s your time and talents which help nurture him in the faith. It’s your tithes which purchase His first Bible presented at His first Communion…..and it’s your time and talents which enable him to understand he belongs to the family of God. And, as he continues to be nurtured in his faith as a youth, it’s your tithes that pay for summer conferences and mission experiences with his peers where he encounters God….and it’s your time and talents that show him he’s not alone and he’s loved and supported. And, as he grows up and he returns to this place…it is your tithes which keep up the church building he remembers as a young boy…the place where he encountered God’s peace through the faithfulness of this family.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem this Palm Sunday, accepting His fate, and offering Himself for our sake…our Lord looked at His people and wept because their eyes had been hidden to the peace which He brings…but now, now we see dimly the peace that Christ’s death and resurrection brings. Now we can truly shout Hosanna and rejoice in the Prince of Peace….Now, the question for tithing becomes….what are we going to do with the peace we now see? How do we proclaim Christ’s death as truly triumphal? See we cannot get to Easter’s resurrection without the offering of the sacrificial lamb; just as we cannot see His peace in full without offering up all that we have and all that we are…just like the poor widow, because our lives were bought by the blood of our lamb. So, as Christ’s disciples….how will we give to God…knowing he gave us everything in Christ, so that we might know the truth of His peace?
A beggar was sitting beside the road, when he saw an amazing carriage coming toward him. The carriage shone like the sun from the gold and precious gems which adorned it. The beggar thought, “Here comes a great and wealthy man. What will he give to me?” The carriage stopped, and a man, regally dressed, emerged and approached the beggar. But the beggar was surprised when the rich man asked, “What will you give me?” The beggar, confused, reached into his meager purse and pulled out only a small grain of rice, and he gave it to the wealthy man thinking, “What can he possibly need from me?” After thanking the beggar the wealthy man left. Well, later that evening the beggar was emptying his purse to see what he had collected that day, and he was amazed to find a single grain of rice which had turned to gold. It was then that the beggar realized it was the Lord whom he had met that day on the road, and he cried out, “If only I had given Him my all!”
If only we would give Him our all…in true rejoicing and shouts of hosanna....then we would one day see in full the Peace of our God, offered through the tears of our Savior. Amen.