Blind and foolish giving
Woe to you, blind guides! You say, “If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.” You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, “If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.” You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. (Mt 23:16-22).
The lectionary gospel reading this Sunday is the story of the “widow’s mite.” I’ve been hearing radio preachers praise their poor listeners for sending in all they have despite their poverty in support of the radio preachers’ ministries, and I think: woah. I’m glad I’m not a radio preacher.
A friend invites me to be a “fan” of “Bolder Giving” on Facebook, a group which seems to encourage people to give away very significant portions of their incomes to combat the world’s evils (for example, malnutrition, illiteracy and disease). If a hungry person were next to me, and needed food, would I not give it to him or her? But a hungry/ill/illiterate person in the far-away land of There is just as hungry/ill/illiterate as a person in the land of Here. We ourselves are blind if we don’t see the truth of this.
And I write this–not a radio preacher, just a simple blogger with a few readers–and come under the same scrutiny of the just God. No wonder Jesus recommends such extreme modesty when it comes to vows and oaths! How can we promise, when we are so prone to self-aggrandizement and self-deception! But, perhaps, even our choosing to not vow is itself a vow; it is certainly in our so-called “Confession,” which is a promise of believe and action of a sort. Our vowing to not vow can be (and has been, by me, at least) used as a means to escape the righteous request of God.
God, grant us light; turn us from our foolish blindness to wise sight.
