"Generous Hands"
April 19, 2015
Mark S. Bollwinkel
During
the Lenten Season we focused on the last words of Jesus while dying on the
cross. On Easter Sunday we considered
the first words of Jesus as Risen Lord. In
the weeks following let’s consider our life as Easter People, children of the
resurrection.
For the gospel writer John, Jesus is the "Word of God",
the incarnation of the divine light of creation itself: "And the Word became flesh and lived
among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full
of grace and truth." (:14) Jesus is
the embodiment of God's creative wisdom in the Hebrew tradition identified as
the divine force the binds all of creation.
It is the spirit that animates human life. The unifying force of life and time together.
In this spirit, Easter people seek to live lives of wisdom but
probably not in the way we usually think of as wise.
An
internet search finds these definitions of "wisdom":
"Knowing what to do with the things
that you know." (businessinsider.com)
"Wisdom is knowing that a tomato is a
fruit yet having the wisdom not to put it in a fruit salad." (answers.yahoo.com)
"Wisdom
is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many [people] know a
great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a
fool as the knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have
wisdom." (C. H. Spurgeon)
There
has been a very popular joke on the internet that illustrates the point:
A man in a hot air balloon realized he was
lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below.
He descended a bit more and shouted,
"Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago,
but I don't know where I am." The woman below replied, "You're in a
hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between
40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west
longitude."
"You must be an engineer," said
the balloonist.
"I am," replied the woman,
"How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist,
"everything you told me is technically correct, but I've no idea what to
make of your information, and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not
been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip."
The woman below responded, "You must
be in Management."
"I am," replied the balloonist,
"but how did you know?"
"Well," said the woman,
"you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to
where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which
you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your
problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we
met, but now, somehow, it's my fault.
(Hot Air Balloon Joke, January 19, 2004, by ptumelty)
The
Biblical understanding of "wisdom" is not the accumulation of
knowledge, data or academic achievement, all of which can be good things but
not necessarily wisdom. Wisdom is
choosing to do the right thing, discerning God's intention in the moment for
love and creativity.
Throughout
the Bible we learn that the wise life is the generous life.
As for the rich in this present age,
charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of
riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are
to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus
storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that
they may take hold of that which is truly life.
(1 Timothy 6:17-19)
Generosity
is an indicator of a "life that is truly life".
Remember,
we don't get to take our college degrees, stock portfolios and community awards
with us when we die. All of the wealth
and social status, by which so many of us measure our success in life, doesn't
travel with us to the next. The only
thing we bring with us to that mystery is the love we've nurtured and shared
with each other during our short time on this earth.
I've
had the privilege of officiating at the funerals of extra-ordinary people; some
with fame, fortune and accomplishment.
I've buried a designer of the Hubble Space Telescope, a chief engineer
on the Space Shuttle, a CEO of HP and the first female engineer hired by that
company. I've buried war heroes, a
banker who died traveling to Latin America to establish micro-credit programs
for the poor. I've eulogized people who
grew up dirt poor and ended up building successful companies that helped to
change the world for the better. At
every funeral, memorial or grave side service I have been a part of, I've never
heard mentioned one word of how much money the deceased had in their bank
account when they died. Their “net worth”
was never measured by their money but rather by the laughter they shared, the
kindness they showed and the generosity with which they spent their time, gifts
and talents. That's what we remember and
never forget about people. That's what
makes us wealthy; our generous hearts.
During July 1995, an African-American
cleaning woman from Mississippi, Oseola McCarty (1908-1999), who from working
all her life by taking in other people’s washing and ironing, accumulated great
savings, donated to the University of Southern Mississippi $150,000 for a
student scholarship program. "I
want to help somebody's child go to college," Miss McCarty said.
Bill Pace, executive director of the USM
Foundation at the time said, "This is by far the largest gift ever given
to USM by an African American. We are overwhelmed and humbled by what she has
done." The selflessness of
87-year-old woman's $150,000 gift to the University of Southern Mississippi
from her life's savings sparked national as well as worldwide attention. She was honored by the United Nations, the
Congressional Black Caucus and at the White House by Hillary and President Bill
Clinton. She would receive more than 300
awards. Oseola McCarty died [twenty] years ago but people all over the world
still know who she was and what she did.
(http://www.nathanielturner.com/oseolamccarty.htm)
Do
you remember the gospel story of Zacchaeus found in Luke (19:1-10)? Seems
appropriate to consider during “income tax week” on and around April 15th!
He entered Jericho and was passing through
it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich.
He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not,
because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to
see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay
at your house today.’ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who
saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a
sinner.’ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my
possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of
anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today
salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the
Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’
As
a collaborator with the Roman occupation of Palestine, Zacchaeus became rich
but isolated by the scorn and hatred of the people he taxed. Something about this Jesus so compelled
Zacchaeus that he was willing to climb a tree just to see the Nazarene. When he invites himself to dinner at
Zacchaeus' home, the short man is thrilled to have Jesus as his guest and uses
the occasion to exhibit extraordinary generosity; making restitution to those
he had defrauded and giving extravagantly to the poor. Zacchaeus was a wise man. He did the right thing. He had the right heart. And as a result he gained re-entrance into
his Hebrew community and the salvation of his soul.
The National Association of Active and Retired Federal Employees
(NARFE.org) representing 300,000 members, including many former Internal
Revenue Service employees, offers a variety of employee benefit and advocacy
programs, such as a credit union and insurance programs. One might not expect such a group to have a
significant commitment to community generosity, but it does. Along with educational scholarships and
disaster assistance to its members and their families, since 1985 NARFE has
donated over $ 9 million to the Alzheimer’s Association research programs to
end that disease; most donations coming in the form of small denomination gifts
collected at the regular chapter meetings.
One would not think that retired Federal and IRS employees would have
too much to give but their organization is one of only four such non-profit
organizations to make such a level of commitment. NARFE members are not only known for their
service to our country but for their on-going generosity.
The Bible says:
Those who
are generous are blessed,
for
they share their bread with the poor.
Susanna Wesley, mother of the
founders of Methodism, John and Charles, was an ingenious, hard working woman
who often had to provide for her family while her husband Samuel was in jail or
away fighting the hierarchy of the Church of England. Together they had 19 children, 8 of which
survived. All the while she educated
each of the children, taught bible study in her kitchen, led worship when
Samuel wasn't around and donated food and clothing to the poor. Her Christian discipleship inspired both of
her sons to go on to do great things based on the generosity they saw in their
mother. They were
"methodical" in their faith and disciplined in their ministry in
large part because of Susanna. She
taught them this simple wisdom about money which they often repeated: "Earn all you can, save all you can,
give all you can." John expanded to
a general concept of generosity:
“Do all the good you can. By all the means
you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times
you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” (John Wesley)
Easter
people seek to live lives of wisdom. It
may be ancient wisdom but it's still true for today, a wise life is a generous
life, a life that is life indeed!
Amen.
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