Luke 19:1-10
Extravagant Generosity: Freed from Consumeritis
James Sledge June
2, 2013
I
was in Target the other day, picking up a few small items, and for some reason
I walked detoured through the TV section. I didn’t even slow down as I walked
by the 26, 32, and 40 inch screens, but I stopped at the 55 and 70 inch TVs.
Now that would be nice. Think of the Super Bowl party you could have with a 70
inch television.
That
big screen called to me, but I walked on to the checkout with my little basket
of items. I wanted it though, and I wished I had it. I even felt a bit
diminished by not having it, which is not surprising since I suffer from a
disease endemic to our culture. I don’t have a bad case, but I still have
consumeritis. Its chief symptom is always needing more in order to be happy: a
new TV, new car, renovated kitchen, new smart phone, and on and on and on.
One
of the problems with consumeritis is that getting more doesn’t actually help. You
still need more. That’s true whether you’re rich or poor. Regardless of income,
people say that if they just had 20% more, they’d be happy.[1]
Just think, wherever you are, whatever your salary, whatever you have, someone
is sure she’d be happy if only she made what you make and had what you have.
But you know better.
Consumeritis
is a great spiritual malady of our age and the cause of much of our anxiety. It’s
true that a bit of dissatisfaction can motivate and drive us, but at some
point, this endless striving for more becomes pathological, an addiction that
can never be sated. It keeps people in jobs they can’t stand, and it runs them
ragged. It consumes people, damaging relationships, ruining health, and more.
As someone has said, “We buy things we don't even need with money we don't even
have to impress people we don't even know”[2]
Endemic
cosumeritis is a modern problem, but the disease itself has been around
forever. No doubt Zacchaeus suffered from it. After all, he had pursued riches
in a manner that left him hated and disowned by fellow Israelites. Chief tax
collectors purchased their position from the Romans, becoming a part of Rome’s hated
occupation. And beyond collaborating with the Romans, they got rich by
collecting more taxes than were actually owed and keeping the surplus. In other
words, Zacchaeus was a traitor and a thief.
I
wonder what drove Zacchaeus to pursue wealth at such costs. What about him was
willing to become a hated pariah to get wealth? Surely there was some deep,
unfilled need that drove him. But I suspect it had not worked out as he hoped.
How else to explain his desire to see Jesus, even if he made a fool of himself
in the process?
And when he meets Jesus, everything
changes. He’s ready to give away half he owns and repay quadruple anyone he defrauded.
Whatever it was that drove him to pursue wealth no matter the cost, it is gone,
and Jesus says that “salvation” has come to his house. Zacchaeus has been
healed, made whole, saved, made new.
Every
fall, lots of churches hold annual stewardship campaigns or pledge drives. Very
often these are almost indistinguishable from fundraisers done by public
television. Church leaders try to convince members suffering from varying
degrees of consumeritis to donate a bit of incomes already stretched thin by
mortgages, car payments, credit card bills, and more. As a rule, people want to
help out their church, but when they do the math, there isn’t much to spare,
and churches are lucky to get one percent of people’s income, never mind the
idea of a tithe, or ten percent.
But
when Zacchaeus is freed from his consumeritis, he joyfully begins giving away half
he owns and promises to repay four times over anyone he has cheated. This looks
nothing like typical church stewardship. It’s not about helping the synagogue meet
its budget. This is something totally different. The encounter with Jesus has radically
changed him.
Many of us have had a similar experience, if not religious, then
perhaps romantic. We have met someone, and that encounter changed us. Our lives
reoriented around that person, and extravagant excess became easy. Nothing too
good for our beloved. Money and things that were for me and my enjoyment
suddenly showered on another. Carefree, footloose individuals who could not be
tied down or fettered in any way suddenly and joyfully longing to settle down.
It’s remarkable, and it’s exactly the sort of thing that happens to Zacchaeus.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Twenty
five years ago, if some asked me if I was a Christian, I would have said, “Yes.”
I belonged to a church, and I went from time to time. But it was hardly a big
part of my life. It was a habit I had acquired from my parents, and it was a
comfortable enough habit if there was nothing else going on. But then I had a
Zacchaeus experience.
It
was nothing so dramatic as our gospel story, but for some reason I had begun to
study scripture and spend time in prayer and reflection. Somewhere along the
way, I encountered Jesus, and I found something much more than a philosophy or a
morality. I met God’s love that sought me, that wanted me. And everything
changed. For me that change included a career change, but for many others it
has meant leading a new ministry at church, renewed relationship, becoming a
Sunday School teacher or youth group volunteer, or serving as a Deacon or Elder.
And encountering Jesus almost always sets loose extravagant generosity. People
who have been touched by God’s love in Jesus are generous with their time and
their gifts and their money.
They’re often tithers and beyond. A lot
of people think of tithing as an impossibly ridiculous extravagance, something
they could never imagine doing. But for me, tithing is something born of love,
and I cannot imagine not doing it. It would be like not loving my wife or being
faithful to her.
_____________________________________________________________________________
In
just a few moments, we will be invited to the table where the risen Christ is
host. The portions of this meal are small, but make no mistake, there is
spiritual banquet here. And no matter who you are, Jesus longs to embrace you
and fill you to overflowing with God’s love and grace. And when that happens,
nothing is ever the same again.
Thanks
be to God!
No comments:
Post a Comment