Generosity to God Must Be Sacrificial

In Deuteronomy chapter 16, God admonished the people of Israel concerning freewill offering. This was to be freely determined, but proportionate to the blessing they had received from God. They were to bring their offerings into the place of worship with rejoicing. In verse 16 God says, “No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed.” God did not want anyone to be left out in this act of giving on the pretext that they possessed nothing to give. Everyone was to bring in their offerings that were commensurate with what they had first received.

Of course, it would be unfair on the Lord’s part to ask of a person what they did not already have to give - "No one gives what they do not have." However, God is not callous. God never makes unrealistic demands of us. Whatever God asks of us He has already provided. But He will not force it out of our hands; we would have to give it freely. Only in this way is our gift sacrificial. If we must be sincere with ourselves Coram Deo (before God), we cannot deny that we have been blessed by the Lord. Both scriptures and our experience attest to the fact that everyone has been gifted, albeit to varying degrees. The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) buttresses this fact: that the Lord has given gifts to everyone according to their abilities. It is from these gifts which the Lord first gave us that he asks us to bring to Him. We all have gifts to share.

The idea of giving to the place of worship is a practice that has come to us from Old Testament times. It recognizes that the Temple is the house of God, and it is our responsibility to support its upkeep and operations. Jesus encouraged giving to the Temple by his teaching and example. He commended the generosity of the widow who gave to the Temple all she had to live on (Mark 12:44). This example demonstrates that the widow took to heart the injunction not to come before the Lord emptyhanded, because even in her lack, she could not deny that the Lord who had blessed her was deserving of even the little she had been given. She is an example of one who completely trusts that God is able to provide all her needs even when she was unsure where her next meal would come from (Ephesians 3:20). Whereas we could provide a thousand justifications for why we do not give or contribute to the Church, the Lord expects this of us and He is watching to see that we do just that. God has blessed us with all that we have: life, health, family, job, career, wealth, name it...everything. This widow's example therefore challenges the idea that one should only give from one's surplus.

One of our parish’s Core Values is “Sacrificial Generosity.” The two parts of this word are: “sacrifice” and “generosity.” We believe these two must go together because one could offer sacrifice and yet not be generous. The rich people making their donations in the Temple whom Jesus compares with the poor widow who gave everything she had to live on comes to mind. Whereas many of them gave generously, Jesus said they gave out of their abundance. They did not do so sacrificially. Although what they gave was huge, what they possessed was more than they were willing to part ways with. What they had left for themselves was apparently more than they brought into the Temple for the upkeep of the house of worship. Another example we see in the book of Genesis is the story of Cain and Abel. Cain offered a sacrifice to God, but he was rejected because his sacrifice was not pleasing to God. The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu offered sacrifice to God, but their sacrifice was rejected as strange fires (Leviticus 10:1). God did not recognize their sacrifice and even found it offensive that he consumed the two men with fire. Ananias and Sapphira wanted to save some money for themselves so they brought only a part of the proceeds from their land to the apostles. They lied that it was all they made from the sale of the land. Peter perceived in his spirit that the couple lied, and what resulted was the death of the couple for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5: 1-11).

These people mentioned above brought their gifts. They made a sacrifice. But they were not generous. Generosity comes from a heart that recognizes that all one has are gifts from God. God is the rightful owner and we are only stewards of the good things of life. And we will give account for what we did with what we have received. Generosity comes from a heart that is completely dependent on God to provide all one needs, rather than grasping to things in hopes of securing a rather indeterminable future. This week, let us all reflect on how we give to our parish and be generous with our offering.

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!

Fr. Julius