March 28, 2023
Dear friends,
While I was a vicar in a Chicago suburb about 10 years ago, I was assigned to preach on Thanksgiving Eve. A common text for Thanksgiving is the story of the ten lepers whom Jesus cleansed. They all went away well, but only one returned to thank Jesus, and that one was a Samaritan.
I preached about how the Samaritan’s thanksgiving brought him back to Jesus, which is just what Jesus wants. He wants us not to say thank you out of a sense of obligation, like we so often do. Rather, he wants us, in our gratitude, to look for more and more blessings from him.
Shaking hands with the congregation after the service, folks are always very nice and encouraging to the vicar. But one fellow, whom I loved dearly, shook my hand and said, “You missed the point. 10 lepers. 1 returned. That’s 10%. That’s why we should give 10% to church.“
I did what you are supposed to do when you’re a vicar – I smiled and nodded and thanked him for his insight. To be honest, I’ve been thinking about it since.
I’m confident that tithing is not the point of that Gospel lesson. But, I have thought about how, if you were to preach a sermon on stewardship using the ten lepers, you’d actually have to deal with this fact: Jesus seemed pretty disappointed with 10%. “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17).
Again, make no mistake, that Gospel lesson is not meant to settle the amount that you should give. But my conversation with the sermon critic highlights an interesting tendency that I think we all have. We’d like to know the number. What percent is enough? When have I succeeded in doing the good work of giving? I’m going to suggest that those are actually faulty questions.
Here’s how I ended last week:
“That was God’s law for his people in the Old Testament. Bring the first-fruits. Bring the tithe.
But what about us? There’s no temple, no altar, no sacrifices. Do these laws have any significance for us?”
On the one hand, it’s essential that Christians know that Jesus has fulfilled the Old Testament laws governing Israel’s worship life. He’s a better priest, a better sacrifice, a better temple, a better child of God – he fills all of those things up for us, so that if we have Jesus, we have all the benefits of God’s covenant with his people. We don’t need the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament.
That means that passages like Exodus 23:19 (“The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God”) are not binding on us. They were not written to govern us.
But here’s the other hand – we still have a lot we can learn from those laws.
Consider the 3rd commandment, which says: “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” No longer do we need to observe the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, and he has become the source of our eternal rest.
But does that mean that we no longer benefit from resting in God’s Word one day out of the week? Not at all! In fact, it’s pretty clear that we need to be in church at least once a week! That’s why we have the Divine Service every Sunday. It’s not a law, but God’s law for Israel makes good sense in ordering our lives!
How about 10%? We can apply the same reasoning here. No longer do we need to devote 10% to the sanctuary, to the priesthood, to the ministry of the Levites. Jesus is Immanuel – God with us – and he ministers to us in Spirit and truth through his Word and sacraments.
But does that mean that we no longer benefit from giving 10%? Not at all! It teaches us the same lesson that it taught the people of Israel. It teaches us to think of our money and possessions as gifts from God, and giving our firstfruits back to him confesses that we are receiving it all by his gracious provision! That’s a huge blessing! And it’s a lesson we need to learn and relearn. And that makes 10% a good starting place!
Now, that may leave you gasping for air. I’ve heard that in the US, on average, Christians give 2.5% of their income. That means that giving 10% would represent a four-fold increase in giving for the average Christian. That’s no small potatoes.
But here’s what I’m interested in. I’m interested in having you think about your reaction. What does your gut say?
“I’d love to, but I can’t.”
“It’s not a law, so I don’t have to.”
“I’m already doing that, so I’m good to go.”
“Is that before or after taxes?”
“Does that include tax credits or gifts or bonuses or pull-tab winnings?”
Just listen to your knee-jerk reaction and consider why your first thoughts come to mind.
Like I’ve said before, it’s always a good exercise, full of repentant joy, to pay closer attention to where our hearts are.
I’ll talk more next time about the practical side of this spiritual exercise. What’s great about all of this is that, so long as we are fixing our attention on God’s Word and listening to him, it is only blessings and good news for us all the time! Thanks be to God for his boundless love!
God bless and keep you,
Pr. Buchs
COMING EVENTS:
Choir Practice – Wednesday, March 29 @ 6pm
Maundy Thursday – Thursday, April 6 @ 7pm
Good Friday – Friday, April 7 @ 7pm
Easter Breakfast – Sunday, April 9 @ 7-8:30am