Abundance, not Scarcity
A Sermon of The Rev. Dr. David A. Killian, Rector
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
October 12, 2003
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Mark 10:17-31
I
Last Sunday, we had an "open pulpit" and we invited all who wished to speak about how God was blessing and sustaining their life in Christ. We heard inspirational accounts of people who had found their way to All Saints after being away from church for decades; people who received strength in their struggles with a divorce or a death in the family; parents seeking support in the challenges of raising children. People talked of their gratitude for the blessing of this community of faith. Their testimonies remind us in this stewardship season that our motivation for giving money should be based on our need to respond to God's gifts, not on the church's need to receive my gift.
This distinction, taught to me by Bruce Rockwell, is major. Our motivation for giving is not the church's need, no matter how worthy that need might be. It's not that the church doesn't have many legitimate needs -- such as fixing the roof; paying the heat, light and insurance bills; paying the salaries of clergy and staff; supporting the mission of justice and service of the poor. These are all legitimate needs -- but they are not the main reason to make a stewardship commitment. The reason to make a stewardship commitment, which was exemplified so well by the people who came to the pulpit last weekend, is because of the abundance of blessings that God has given me and my need to respond in love by giving back to God from my very essence. If my gratitude is real, it should cost me something; it should stretch me and expand my comfort zone. I need to give to show that I am truly aware that I have been blessed. What better way is there to respond to abundance than by being lavish in my gift back to God? If I make a miserly or minimal gift to God, that is a statement that I have not truly appreciated the abundance with which God has blessed me. Am I making sense? Are you following me? I give not because of the church's scarcity or need, but because of the great abundance that God has given me.
II
As we read today's Gospel passage of the rich, young man, I have to ask, "What was his problem?" And I answer that I think he was motivated by scarcity and not abundance. Mark says that the man ran up and knelt before Jesus and asked what he had to do to attain eternal life. The man seems eager to draw closer to God and concerned about his eternal destiny. That is good. We should all be concerned about our eternal destiny and what will happen to us when we die. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments; the man says that he has done this. The Gospel says, "Jesus, looking at him, loved him." Jesus loved him and wanted what was best for him, but Jesus senses that something is missing. Like a surgeon detecting a malignant growth, Jesus wants to excise the cancer on this man's soul, which is his attachment to earthly possessions.
It's like the story of the mother who took her five-year old to church. As they were leaving, the mother shook the hands of the preacher, and then she said, "Johnnie, shake the minister's hand." Johnnie didn't put his hand out. The mother asked again. He still didn't put his hand out. Then she said again, "Johnnie, shake hands with the preacher." At that, Johnnie opened his fist and out rolled three marbles that he had been grasping. Johnnie had not wanted to shake hands because he didn't want to give up the possession of his marbles.
In today's Gospel passage, Jesus is trying to shake hands with the man who doesn't want to give up his earthly possessions. What about us? How much do we cling to our possessions? We might be tempted to say, "Well, the man in the Gospel story is rich, and I'm not rich," so this Gospel is about Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, but it is not about me. Wrong! This Gospel passage is about you and me. The man in the story had "many possessions." Is there anyone here who does not have many possessions -- especially in comparison with 80% of the rest of the world? I was talking recently with a Peace Corps volunteer who returned from serving in a Third World country. She said that the average wage in that country was $5 a day -- and that was high, because the average in Third World countries is $2 a day. Yes, my friends, this Gospel is about you and about me. We live in the most affluent country in history of the world.
But, you might object, "Jesus tells the man to sell what he owns, and give the money to the poor. Is Jesus telling me to give up all of my possessions?" No. Jesus is not against the ownership of private property, but the Gospel surely is telling us to lessen our attachment to possessions. And the Bible gives a very effective method for lessening our attachment to possessions: give a tithe, 10%, to God and keep 90% for yourself. If you do this you will take a very practical step of lessening your attachment to money. We can start by calculating what we give now -- use your income tax statement -- and then decide to give 1% more. If you're giving 1% now, then next year give 2%; if you're giving 3%, then next year give 4%. None of us will have a drastically different lifestyle if we give 1% more -- but that 1% more is a huge, personal symbol of our willingness to take a first step of giving from a motivation of abundance and gratitude. It is a way of loosening our attachment to possessions.
III
There is a species of jellyfish found in the Italian Mediterranean that feeds on tiny snails of the nudibranch variety. The snails, however, are protected by their shell -- the jellyfish cannot digest them. So, once the jellyfish eats one of these snails, a bizarre reversal of roles takes place; the diner become the dinner. Attaching itself to the wall of the jellyfish's digestive tract, the snail begins to eat the jellyfish. By the time the snail grows to maturity, it has completely consumed the jellyfish. The poor jellyfish is eventually consumed by what it has consumed.
What we consume, too, can consume us; we can be swallowed up in the pursuit of wealth, prestige, and power, becoming immune to the joy of human experience. Jesus' warning to the rich, young man is a warning to all of us to be careful of the "snails" we consume that can consume us, displacing the eternal things of God with the immediate, momentary things of this world.
Let us pray. O God, you have created us in love and destined us for eternal happiness. You bless us abundantly in our personal lives and sustain us in this community of faith. Help us to see the abundance in and around us. Lead us to give because of our need to respond to your blessing instead of the church's need for our gift. Stretch us to give generously so that we might lessen our attachment to earthly possessions and draw us closer to you in love. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.