Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory forever!

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life’” (Jn. 3:16).

And, again, “But God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. . . . He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rm. 5:8; 8:31).

And, again, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cr. 8:9).

And, finally, our Father in Heaven, Jesus says, “’maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust’” (Mt. 5:45).

Although none of these passages of Sacred Scripture were read today in our hearing, yet they undergird and form the foundation of what we did hear in the apostolic Epistle to the Corinthians.  The spirit of these passages is absolutely fundamental to all giving with His divine benefactions inspiring our own and modelling for us how we are to give and why.  “We love [God] because He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19).  This love of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God, the benefaction of God always goes before, preceding our own.  It is the root cause of our giving which is but an echo of God’s superlative offering.  There is not a thing we possess that does not first belong to God or come from His providential hand.  “Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee, on behalf of all and for all” (1 Ch. 29:12, 14; Anaphora).  What we have in our hand comes from God, and it is given freely to us so that we, in turn, might offer it back to God in order to bless others and the world, just like God – “on behalf of all and for all.”

What St. Paul says today about almsgiving and offerings flows from this very fountain of divine stewardship.  If we are to be like God, which is the target of our sanctification and the goal of our deification, then it must include how and what we give to God.  Giving is a profoundly godly act.  It is a profoundly spiritual act impacting our souls.  It is a profound act of worship, as St. Paul indicates, using the word “eucharist,” that is, thanksgiving (2 Cr. 9:12-15).  It is a barometer of our spiritual health and well-being or, conversely, of spiritual illness and disintegration.  When we give – not if we do, mind you, but when – do we do so with a heavy heart begrudging letting go of what could have benefited us, or do we do so with glad and generous hearts, confessing the supreme goodness of our God to us sinners Who did not withhold His own Son but gave to us the finest wheat of Heaven (Ps. 80 [81]:16; Ac. 2:46)?  “He that hath a bountiful eye,” says the wise Solomon, “shall be blessed” (Pr. 22:9).  Liberality and generosity are the hallmarks of God toward us sinners, thus Sacred Scripture (LXX) says, “God loves a cheerful and liberal man” (Pr. 22:9).  “He who soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”  Any farmer, any gardener understands the Apostle’s analogy here.  What we sow is what we reap, whether we sow bountifully or begrudgingly (Ga. 6:7).

Now, if there are any who doubt this connection, especially with how it affects our salvation, allow me to point us to Scriptures that boldly point out those connections.  The Wisdom of Sirach tells us that he who keeps the Law brings offerings enough and that we are not to appear before the Lord empty.  He goes on to say,

The offering of the righteous maketh the Altar fat, and the sweet savor thereof is before the Most High.  The sacrifice of a just man is acceptable, and the memorial thereof shall never be forgotten.  Give the Lord His honor with a good eye, and diminish not the firstfruits of thine hand.  In all thy gifts show a cheerful countenance, and dedicate thy tithes with gladness.  Give unto the Most High according as He hath enriched thee; and as thou hast gotten, give with a cheerful eye.  For the Lord recompenseth, and will give thee seven times as much (Sr. 35:1-11).

The Book of Tobit is big on almsgiving, unhesitatingly linking generosity with righteousness.  A righteous soul is a generous soul, and God pays attention to our giving.  “Give alms of thy substance,” Tobit says,

and when thou givest alms, let not thine eye be envious, neither turn thy face from any poor, and the face of God shall not be turned away from thee.  If thou hast abundance, give alms accordingly; if thou have but a little, be not afraid to give according to that little.  For thou layest up a good treasure for thyself against the day of necessity, because almsgiving doth deliver from death, and suffereth not to come into darkness.  For alms is a good gift unto all who give it in the sight of the Most High (Tb. 4:7-11; 12:8-10).

Again, returning to the Wisdom of Sirach, he advises us not to neglect this most crucial spiritual practice that exercises the soul in the sight of God.  No good will come to the soul that does not give alms, he tells us (Sr. 7:10; 12:3).  He dares even to say that “Water will quench a flaming fire, and almsgiving will atone for sins” (Sr. 3:28).  Reminiscent of our Lord as well as St. Paul, Sirach assures us,

Lay up your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, for this will profit you more profit than gold.  Store up alms in your storerooms, and they will deliver you from all affliction.  More than a mighty shield and better than a strong spear almsgiving will fight for you against your enemy (Dn. 4:24; Sr. 29:11-13; 40:24).

God remembers our generosity and honors it.  Now, if we’re skeptical, remember what the centurion, Cornelius, tells St. Peter who has been called by God to open the doors of the Kingdom of God to this Gentile.  Cornelius tells the Apostle why he sent for him.  “’Four days ago I was fasting until this hour,’” he says, “’and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, “Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God”’” (Ac. 10:4, 31).  God memorialized the generosity of Cornelius’ giving and sent His Apostle to speak salvation to his household. 

And, again, let us recall the words of our Lord Who counsels us in the Sermon on the Mount not to hesitate to “’lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven’” (Mt. 7:19-21).  In St. Luke’s Gospel, our Lord links this directly with the giving of alms.  He tells His Disciples, “’Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the Heavens that does not fail, . . . .’” (Lk. 12:33-34).  Later in Luke’s Gospel, our Lord will tell us to make friends with unrighteous mammon so that when we die those who benefited from our giving will bear us witness in the Kingdom (Lk. 16:9).  And, if we’re still not sure, hear what St. Paul says to his protégé, Timothy.  He instructs the Bishop,

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, Who gives us richly all things to enjoy.  Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on Eternal Life (1 Tm. 6:17-19).

Now, to the non-Orthodox ear this sounds suspiciously like buying our salvation or bribing the Almighty, Who, by the way, cannot be bribed.  But, the fact remains, a Christian is known unto God by his or her giving.  We do not trust in these things, as St. Paul tells St. Timothy, but rather our faith, our hope, our love is “in the living God” Whose generosity can only be imitated but never out done, Who generously blesses us so that we, like Him, can bless others – the poor, the sick, the needy, the lonely, and yes, holy Mother Church, in whose womb we have salvation and Eternal Life.  For here, in her bosom, she feeds us with the bread of angels and the drink of Heaven – the very Body and Blood of her dearly beloved Bridegroom (Ps. 77 [78]:25).  Here, she carries us all the days of our life until such time that we are called upon by God to return the breath He has unbegrudgingly lent us.  She has given us birth into the Kingdom; she carries us like the four friends who carried their paralyzed friend to Jesus on a stretcher (Mt. 9:1-8; Mk. 2:1-12; Lk. 5:17-26) and sustains us with the Holy Mysteries all the days of our earthly life; and she will bury us when these days are ended. 

We are to bring our tithes and our offerings to her, just as surely as the Church of the Old Testament was divinely directed (Lv. 27:30-32).  So strongly does God feel about this that He specifically speaks to His people concerning this in the Prophet Malachi: 

‘But you, O sons of Jacob, have not abstained from the sins of your fathers.  You turned away from My ordinances and have not kept them.  Return to Me, and I will return unto you,’ says the Lord Almighty.  ‘But you say, “In what way shall we return?”  ‘Will a man insult God?  Yet you have insulted Me!’  “But you say, ‘In what way have we insulted Thee?’”  ‘You kept back your tithes and offerings.  You most certainly turned your back on Me, you and the whole nation, and you insulted Me. . . . Return now in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not open for you the floodgates of Heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it is overflowing’ (Ma. 3:7-10).

St. Paul recognizes this spiritual principle in today’s Epistle.  If we sow sparingly or begrudgingly, we reap sparingly.  But, if we sow bountifully in love, we will reap bountifully of the grace of love.  He goes on to assure us (because he knows how finicky we are about these things),

God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. . . . Now may He Who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown [in your giving] and increase the fruits of your righteousness [by your giving], while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving [eucharist] through us to God.

Perhaps said more succinctly by the Apostle elsewhere, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Pp. 4:19).  As Fr. John of blessed memory was wont to say, “You can never out give God.”  The God Who took up in His hands a few loaves and some fish multiplied them bountifully so that more than 5,000 were fed, and there was plenty leftover besides (Mt. 14:13-21; Mk. 6:30-44; Lk. 9:10-17; Jn. 6:1-14)!    

Beloved, if we wait until we think we have enough to offer to God out of our surplus, I guarantee you that time will never come and we will never begin this essential spiritual practice that has eternal consequences.  Take up that Cross today and trust this God Who gives seed to the sower and bread for food.  See if He will not do as He has said and bless your giving by multiplying the seed you sow, increasing the fruits of your righteousness, and storing up for yourself treasure in Heaven as a memorial.  From God’s bounty we are blessed and from His bounty lent unto us we, in turn, give “on behalf of all and for all” (Lk. 6:38). 

The wisdom of God is this: we were created to give and giving is essential to our souls because it is an act of faith, of hope, and of love, and God is glorified which is what being a Christian is really all about.

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory forever!

PROPERS:

2 Cr. 9:6-11

Lk. 7:11-16