Second Thursday in Great Lent
Kathisma 5 (Psalms 32-36)
“Better is the little which the just man hath than the great riches of sinners… The sinner borroweth and will not repay, but the just man showeth mercy and giveth… All the day long the righteous showeth mercy, and lendeth, and his seed shall be unto blessing.” (Psalm 36)
Almsgiving is the one Lenten discipline that people seem to hate more than any other. Giving up rich foods is one thing. Praying is one thing. Telling people to give away their money? Now you’ve gone from preaching to meddling!
The Holy Scriptures are absolutely full of admonitions about what we do with our money. Even though rich, modern Christians seem to complain that all the Church ever does is talk about money, I don’t remember the last time I heard an homily about almsgiving. Jesus, on the other hand, spoke about money more than any other single topic!
Why are we so sensitive to money talk? I suppose it is probably because we are so attached to our money. It’s where we derive our sense of purpose, our sense of security, our confidence for the future, our daily bread… hmm, wait a minute! Aren’t those things supposed to flow from our trust and faith in God? Alas, that is why Jesus didn’t pull any punches when He showed us how money can become an idol, and that just doesn’t work for our jealous God. ‘You cannot serve both God and money.’ (Matthew 6:24) That’s pretty clear.
Almsgiving as a discipline means we don’t do it when we want to, but until we want to. It hurts at first. It is hard. It gets easier with time, though. Before too long, you actually feel the need. A little while longer and you actually look for opportunities to be generous.
Letting go of money is hard, but the scriptures promise that when we let go of it, we learn to trust God more. We learn to know Him more intimately. We are enabled to follow Him without fear for the future. We become peaceful and content. We learn humility. Almsgiving really does free us from the sins of idolatry, love of money, and unbelief. (Proverbs 15:30)
Let’s face it, this is the question of Great Lent: if almsgiving will bring you closer to Christ and teach you to rely on Him more in faith, then you either prefer to be closer to Christ with less money, or you prefer to keep the money. Pretty harsh, huh? Well, Jesus didn’t say it any more gently.
