e-vo for week of October 12

Dearest e-votees-

You would think that Jesus’ reputation would have been sufficiently known that people would stop trying to trap him with words and questions.

They never quite seemed to learn. As if somehow they could get away with putting themselves in the place of judging the creator. As if somehow they could take the very place of judging God. As if somehow they might themselves become like God knowing good and evil.

We are so fortunate to live in an enlightened age where we would never be so presumptuous.

Peace,
Karl

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15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" 21 They answered, "The emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." 22 When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Matthew 22:15-22, NRSV

Does ownership reflect how you treat something? Do you treat things better when they are yours? Do you treat things better when you are borrowing them from someone else? Does it matter to you at all if you know the lender personally or if they are some faceless corporation? The whole notion of stewardship (which is what a lot of churches are talking about at this time of the year) is about how you treat something on loan to you from someone else.

It starts in the sandbox with two kids fighting over the same toy shouting “Mine!”. For some it progresses to vying for the same job or trying to woo the same person or trying to outbid one another at a charitable auction for all to see how generous we really are. We people fight over things. We fight over attention. We fight to be regarded well. We want better and more than others. We want others to notice how much better and how much more we have. Madison Avenue spends much effort selling discontent and upgrading to the next level of ownership.

Candidates and occupying emperors vie for allegiance sometimes subtly and sometimes much more aggressively. They ask for our support and our resources and our faithfulness.

The truth is this: All that this world has to offer is God’s. We don’t own anything—not one possession, not one talent, not one thin dime and not even one of the breaths our God-given lungs have provided today. All we are and all we have and all we could possibly offer is on loan from God.

Does God’s ownership reflect in how we treat things? Do we know the lender personally? What shall we do today with the things that aren’t even ours to begin with?

There is a fabulous quote by Jim Elliot (which you can see in his own hand at http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/faq/20.htm) which says:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep
to gain that which he cannot lose.

This is often read through the lens of Jim Elliot’s eventual martyrdom. How about through the lens of stewardship?

We don’t purchase our salvation with all the things we have on loan from God. But we can grow in understanding that we can hold much less tightly to things that are passing because God is holding so tightly to us. We can give to God what is God’s and not be so very concerned about what the emperor will be requiring. We can loosen our grip on that which we cannot keep and allow God to draw us more fully into God’s good keeping. When we look at our money, our possessions, our family, our career, our time, our _________ we should strive to make sure we remember to see God’s gracious hand and loving intentions. We can let God stir us into how best to engage and release those things that can be so precious and can be so defining and can be so confining.


God, draw us up into you. Help us shun the world’s ways of defining who we are through power, control, possession and achievement. Help us embrace your gracious love, your call to be servants, your example of giving all in the name of love and your humble example of washing feet and pouring out your life for the sake of others. Amen.