Giving Alms

 

Scripture

 Deuteronomy 15:7-11

⁷ If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. ⁸ You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. ⁹ Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, “The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,” and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. ¹⁰ Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. ¹¹ Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”  (NRSV)

 Matthew 25:34-40

  ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’  (NRSV)

 

Devotion

In today's installment of our series on spiritual disciplines, we are looking at the act of almsgiving--or giving to those in need.  One of the most consistent themes throughout the Bible is that God calls us to give generously to those who are vulnerable or in need.  Scripture proclaims that such generosity should baked into us because God has been so generous to us.  Each time we give to others, we become living reflections of the Almighty, who is at work among us.  And as we grow in God's generosity, we strengthen the bonds of mutual love and mercy between the giver and the recipient.  Therefore, true almsgiving helps us love both God and one another.

Not everyone who gives to others does so out of pure or godly motivations.  After all, there are plenty of people who use charitable giving as a weapon to use against others, a debt to hold over others,  or a tool to help them rise in power and status or get their way.  That kind of giving is a perversion of what God desires from us and actually works to curtail the Good News instead of Spread it.

What, then, is true almsgiving?   Scripture outlines some important details about the way we should give to others:

• We should give in response to a need we have noticed.  If we see someone that is suffering or a situation that needs to be addressed yet do nothing, then we have hardened our hearts against the very people God calls us to help.  
• We should give to others willingly and in a spirit of open-handed generosity.  If we begrudge people for needing or accepting our help or if we talk disparagingly about them, then we shown the compassion and love that God shows for us in our times of need.  
• We should make our giving personal. Yes, there are times when it is most helpful and efficient to send our charitable giving to an organization like the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, or Presbyterian Disaster Assistance; those groups have both the know-how and the people on the ground to do amazing work that we cannot. Such giving, though, does not excuse us from recognizing and responding to the need that we see around us.  Jesus himself said that when we help those in need, we help him.  And this is true of the hungry person we pass on the street, the friend struggling to pay a medical bill, the neighbor who can no longer keep up with their home/lawn, and even the relative seeking affordable childcare options.  They way we personally respond to people's varied needs is the way we respond to Jesus.  And I for one, would much rather support Jesus than tell him to go find help elsewhere.

Everyone needs help sooner or later.  One of the most powerful experiences with alms-giving I ever had came not when I was the giver...but when I was the proposed recipient.  I was paying my way through graduate school and trying to figure out how I was going to afford some expensive dental work that needed done right away.    When my friend Zeina heard how worried I was, she offered to send me some of her fidya money (extra charitable donations to those in need that Muslims who can't fast make during Ramadan). 

 

I told Zeina that she should give her money to a more worthy cause.  She replied that God didn't want her to send a check to an organization without much thought on the matter.  Instead, God wanted her to help people in ways that built, strengthened, and/or deepened her relationships with them.  What's more, Zeina's relationship with my family had started when my sister physically helped her out in a time of need; it was only right for her to do something for me in mine.  All I had to do was say how much I  needed, and she would send a check...no repayment required.

I didn't end up needing Zeina's financial help...but I did rely upon her for another form of "charity" as I turned to her for emotional support over the coming month.  Knowing that she was there to bail me out if needed it meant more to me than she will ever know.  And God used her softhearted and open-handed generosity to help our friendship flourish in ways that it hadn't before.  That friendship continued to deepen as we ended up moving to towns with an easy drive of one another and I grew closer to her parents and brother.  Today, I am thankful that God has turned Zeina into someone who is like another sister to me.  And I know that if anyone in either of our families was in trouble, the other person's family would be the first to line up and give generously to them in their time of need.

As we move further through Lent, let us each commit to being more generous and charitable towards someone in need.  If we are not in a position to give money, we can give of our talents, our time, or our attention. However we choose to give, let us do so with soft hearts and open hands, remembering that (through the power of the Holy Spirit) as we do unto them, we do unto Jesus himself.  Finally, let us pray for Christ to bless and strengthen the relationships impacted by our giving, so that through his grace, our love for God and one another may come to better reflect the Kin-dom of Heaven.

 

 

Prayer 

Jesus, you are the perfect example of God's generosity.  Help me to grow more like you as use may time, talents, attention, and resources to help others.  May your Holy Spirit cause my acts of charity to strengthen the bonds of love between myself and others.  And may I be a reflection of your love for the world.  Amen.