The Patron Saint of Sharing
Luke 3:7–20 • Isaiah 12:2-6
December 14, 1997 • Third Sunday in Advent (c)
“What shall we do?”
That’s the question asked of John the Baptist three times in this story.
The multitudes ask: “What shall we do?”
The tax collectors ask: “Teacher, what shall we do?”
And the soldiers ask: “And us, what shall we do?”
The question is their response to John’s preaching about the coming of the Messiah. “You better get ready!” he says to them. “Repent!”
“But how do we do that, John? What, specifically, are we to do?”
And so John spells it out for them. “Tax collectors and soldiers — you who have political and economic power —be fair and honest, don’t cheat, don’t steal, and don’t abuse your power.
“And as for the rest of you — don’t think you can call on your Father Abraham for salvation. Don’t think that being religious is gonna cinch it for you! No! You want to truly repent? Then share what you’ve got!”
John the Baptist is “the patron saint of sharing.”
“Repent! Get ready for the coming of Christ” he preaches.
And with the multitudes we ask: “How, John? What shall we do?”
And John answers: “Whether it’s a little or a lot, you gotta share what you’ve got.”
What an appropriate Advent message! Surely, this is what we need to hear at Christmas–time: You want to prepare yourself for the coming of Christ? Then share! That’s what true repentance looks like. By sharing we prepare the way for the presence of God among us — we open our hearts, our lives, to welcome the Christ, we welcome life.
And, conversely, whenever we refuse to share, we reject him and cut ourselves off from the source of life.
Last month Charlie Summers, the pastor of Seigle Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, wrote an op–ed piece for The Observer that I wish I’d written. Charlie stands in an interesting place. He’s got one foot planted among the poorest folks in Charlotte, for Seigle Avenue is in the heart of housing project ghetto. His other foot, however, is in Davidson, where he teaches at the college and rubs elbows with some of the wealthier, more well–educated, and powerful members of the Mecklenburg community. Let me read to you a little of his article:
What puzzles me is that our current national prosperity is coupled with such a meanness of spirit. Business is good, inflation is low, we are not at war (hot or cold). Yet instead of celebrating these good times with thankfulness and compassion, we find angry legislators pushing to cut off aid to dependent children. Talk show hosts belittling the poor for being lazy. Letters to the editor call for taller fences along the U.S. border and more prisons in the state.
The new “welfare to work” legislation from Congress is so cold it should be entitled “Here’s a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares”... “I got mine. You get yours”....
Stock values, CEO compensation and sales of luxury autos have soared in recent years. But the wages paid to poor people for long hours of work have barely moved. Now the prosperous are going to cut off even the few benefits that make up the safety net in our nation. Do the math. A full–time job (a rare thing in itself for low–income people) at $6 an hour pays only about $12,480 a year before taxes. How is a parent going to support children on a wage like that? No wonder so many poor people have to work two jobs just to get by.
This current climate might be called an era of “Grab.” If gratitude leads to compassion then grab leads to resentment. Grab asks, “Why don’t I have more? Why does that person have a bigger car, a larger house, or a better pair of Nikes?” Grab, in its resentment, looks for someone to blame....and the poor are easy targets. The national mood has moved from a War on Poverty to attacks on the poor.
Is Charlie describing our nation accurately? I think so. Is he describing you and me? Again, I think so — for even if we don’t blame the poor, which one of us hasn’t at least sometimes succumbed to the overwhelming desire for more, bigger, better material things? The problem is, we can never be satisfied. Better Nikes, newer cars, bigger houses, won’t fill the hole in our souls.
When we went to Haiti last year I took in my suitcase a camera, a camcorder, a tape recorder, several changes of clothes, two pairs of shoes, and a variety of personal items. The contents of that suitcase cost more than the average Haitian makes in five years. And that was in my suitcase.
If I’m hungry for more possessions, doesn’t it make sense to you that I’d better to consider the proposition that my hunger cannot be filled by more possessions? That it is really a spiritual hunger — an empitness in my soul that no amount of consumer goods will fill?
John has a prescription for what ails me: What you need is God! If you want to prepare the way for God to come into your life — then the way to do that is not by singing Christmas carols and getting all your shopping done. The way to do it is certainly not by making sure Santa gets your list. Indeed, the way to do it is not even by being “a good Christian” — whatever that means. No, the way to get ready is to share what you’ve got.
John is perfectly consistent with Jesus on this. As I listen to John, I cannot help but remember Jesus’ story of Lazarus and the rich man — also found in Luke’s gospel (16:19–31). You remember the story?
There was a rich man,
who was clothed in purple and fine linen
and who feasted sumptuously every day.
And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus,
full of sores,
who desired to be fed
with what fell from the rich man’s table;
moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
The poor man died
and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried;
and in Hades,
being in torment, he lifted up his eyes,
and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he called out,
’Father Abraham, have mercy upon me,
and send Lazarus
to dip the end of his finger in water
and cool my tongue;
for I am in anguish in this flame.’
But Abraham said,
’Son, remember that in your lifetime
you received your good things,
and Lazarus in like manner evil things;
but now he is comforted here,
and you are in anguish.
And besides all this,
between us and you a great chasm has been fixed,
in order that those who would pass from here to you
may not be able,
and none may cross from there to us.’
And the rich man said,
’Then I beg you, father,
to send him to my father’s house,
for I have five brothers,
so that he may warn them,
lest they also come into this place of torment.’
But Abraham said,
’They have Moses and the prophets;
let them hear them.’
And the rich man said,
’No, father Abraham;
but if some one goes to them from the dead,
they will repent.’
Abraham said to him,
’If they do not hear Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be convinced
if some one should rise from the dead.’"
It doesn’t do any good to call on Father Abraham, say both Jesus and John. Being religious — knowing your Bible, praying daily, going to church, teaching Sunday school, preaching good sermons — that’s not what God wants. All of that stuff is worthless, unless.... unless it brings about repentance. And repentance, according to John, means sharing what you’ve got with those who don’t got.
As Jesus says in his story, this idea was not new with him. He is only re–stating the teaching of Moses and the prophets.
I command you, says the Lord, to open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy, and to the poor in the land. (Dt. 15:11)
It is God’s nature to be generous to the poor:
Who is like the Lord our God...He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. (Psalm 113:5–8)
God has already been thus generous with us, and in like manner God expects us to treat others with the same generosity. The harshest judgement of the prophets — and their greatest promises — are linked to generosity and justice for the poor. Says Isaiah:
If you pour yourself out for the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness, and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Is. 58:10-11)
An old Jewish folktale bears witness to the importance of sharing in the tradition.
There were once two brothers who farmed together. They shared equally in all of the work and split the profits exactly. Each had his own storehouse. One of the brothers was married and had a large family. The other was single.
One day the single brother thought to himself: “It is not fair that we divide the grain so evenly. My brother has many mouths to feed, while I have but one. I know what I’ll do! I will take a sack of grain from my storehouse each evening and put it in my brother’s storehouse.” So each night when it was dark, he carefully carried a sack of grain and put it in his brother’s storehouse.
Now the married brother also thought to himself: “It is not fair that we divide the grain so evenly. I have many children to care for me in my old age, and my brother has none. I know what I’ll do! I will take a sack of grain from my storehouse each evening and put it in my brother’s storehouse.” So each night when it was dark, he too carefully carried a sack of grain and put it in his brother’s storehouse.
This went on for weeks, and since neither brother knew what the other was doing, each morning they were amazed to discover that though they had removed a sack of grain the night before, they had just as many.
But one night they met each other halfway between their storehouses, each carrying a sack of grain. Then they understood the mystery. They dropped their sacks and embraced, and in tears celebrated their love for one another.
And God looked down from heaven, saw the two brothers embracing, and said: “Blessed be the field where these two brothers are standing and embracing.”
And many years later — so says the legend — King Solomon built the Holy Temple on the very same ground, that it might become a house of peace and blessing to all nations and peoples.
John and Jesus, then, are not telling us anything new here. Since the beginning God intended for people to live as family, brothers and sisters, parents and children, freely sharing the bounty of creation — that no one might suffer....
Why, then, don’t we share more freely? Child psychologists say that learning to share is an important milestone in human development. There are few things more embarassing to parents or frustrating to teachers than stingy and grasping children. And how do children learn to share? They learn from adults who early on provide them with opportunities to respect and honor the needs of others. They learn to share in relationships where no favoritism is shown by significant adults. And, of course, they learn to share by observing and interacting with adults who share freely with them and one another. I tell Rachel and Israel on a regular basis: In our family we share. That’s just what we do.
One impediment to a child’s sharing is the perception that there is not enough to go around. When supplies are abundant, children make more effort to share freely. But when it looks like the supply might run out, then they clutch tightly to what they’ve got.
Jesus knew that. That’s why he taught his children — you and me — to “consider the birds of the air, who neither toil, nor spin, nor gather into barns” — and yet the heavenly Father takes care of them! That’s why Jesus tells his kids to remember the flowers — who don’t worry a bit about Nikes, Reboks, or Ralph Lauren fashions — but whom God dresses with a style that Vogue and GQ can’t touch!
And Jesus not only told us, but he also showed us God’s abundance, by taking five loaves and two fish and turning it into a banquet for five thousand — and after the sharing, when everybody had stuffed themselves to the gills, there was more food leftover than they’d started with! Jesus preached and lived out of a attitude of abundance, not scarcity! “God will provide!” he kept telling us! “There will always be enough — and more than enough — when you trust God and share what you’ve got.”
But his teaching on sharing goes even further! “When you share,” he said, “I’ll be there! I’ll be the one who receives what you share — even as you have already received from me!” Sharing, then, is not only the way to prepare for Jesus’ coming. Sharing is also a sign that Jesus is already present.
The only other time that the question, “What are we to do?” is asked in Luke’s story is on Pentecost — Acts chapter two. Again it’s the multitudes who ask it, and again they do so in response to the preaching of the good news — this time it’s Peter’s preaching — and the message of the sermon is the same. “Repent!” says Peter. And the multitudes ask him, “How do we do that?”
(Acts 2:37)
Peter doesn’t spell out what they’re to do as specifically as did John, but by the end of the chapter in Acts the results of their repentance are exactly what John, and Jesus, and God himself desired. Luke tells the story like this:
So those who heard Peter’s sermon were baptized,
and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
And they devoted themselves
to the apostles’ teaching
and fellowship,
to the breaking of bread
and the prayers.....
And all who believed were together
and they shared everything they had;
and they sold their possessions and goods
and shared the money with any who had need.
And day by day,
they met together at the temple
and broke bread in different homes,
they shared their food
with glad and generous hearts,
praising God
and having favor with all the people.
And the Lord added to their number
day by day
those who were being saved. (Acts 2:41–47)
That’s our story. Yours and mine. If it sounds foreign to us — like that’s someone else’s story — that’s hardly surprising. Almost everything in our culture is sending us the opposite message. It’s the “I got mine, you get yours” mentality. But we in the church — we disciples of Jesus — we tell a different story. And we need to tell it, and re-–tell it, and keep on telling it, until we re–learn how to be the sharing place and the sharing people. For in so doing, we welcome and make a place for our Lord.
Today in our children’s story, I gave our kids a concrete challenge: to share a toy. I cannot do that with you adults and youth. Unlike John, I’m not comfortable spelling out for you exactly what your repentance — your preparation for Christ — should look like.
But I can assure you of this — it must involve genuine sharing in a significant way. I know for the Goldens it will mean computing the financial cost of our family Christmas and together giving away an equal amount to persons who don’t have anything like what we have. That’s gonna be the best part of Christmas for us, not the receiving, but the giving — the sharing — when we gather around the table on Christmas eve and decide who will be the recipients of our sharing.
You might think, “Well, we could never do that, Jacob! How could we deal with such a loss?” But we don’t expect to lose! On the contrary, what we’re doing is simply trying to take Jesus seriously when he says:
Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
(Luke 6:38)
I don’t think Jesus means that it’s a “tit for tat” thing — at least not in the immediately obvious sense. But he is saying that sharing is vital — it is necessary for the life of — the body of Christ — a body of which we Goldens are a part, but a body which, in Jesus’ vision, is meant to include all people on this earth. Such a body shares in order to live.
Think about your own body. The system by which blood and oxygen circulate throughout your limbs and organs is beautiful and efficient. But if, through harmful habits, wrong diet, etc., one or more arteries become blocked, great harm can come to the body, sometimes resulting in the death of some parts or even the death of the entire body.
In the same way, God’s plan for the circulation of needed substances through the entire body of humanity is a beautiful and efficient plan. But right now too many of humanity’s arteries of sharing are blocked by selfishness and greed and the “I got mine, you get yours” mentality. And ironically, that mentality is never more evident than now — the season of gratitude becomes instead the season grab. And spiritual — sometimes physical — death is the result.
By selfishness we seek to save our life, and end up losing it!
There’s a story of a group of fish who were living in a relatively small puddle–like pool that had been cut off from a nearby stream. As they lived there the oxygen supply became less and less, to the point where finally they had to seek other waters. With great difficulty and courage they jumped the barrier and found themselves in an oxygen–rich pool of freely flowing water. But it wasn’t long before some of the fish began to say, “Look! We’ve got to protect what we’ve got here! We need to erect some barriers to keep others out...” And they did so. But in the process of preventing others from entering to share their space, they also blocked out the fresh water. It was only a matter of time before they all died of asphyxiation caused by their own selfishness.
The mystery of the gospel is this — that in losing our life, in freely sharing, even giving it away, we gain life! It’s a great and wonderful mystery — that our greatest fulfillment lies not in filling ourselves up, but in giving ourselves away! That through sharing, especially with those in need, we become beautiful people — beautiful because we make room for Christ, who is re–born in us and through us into this selfish and dying world.
And today John is the one calling us! Calling us to prepare for the coming of Christ! And if we follow John’s instruction — if we share — behold! The Christ is already in us and among us!
May it be so with you this Advent season.
