Radical Generosity
All of us thought about money this week. It’s very likely that you had conversations with someone this week about money and perhaps even conflicts over money.
Some of our strongest emotions connect to money, both negative and positive emotions—such as fear and anxiety, or happiness and fulfillment. Money is a significant life issue.
The main reason that I preach about money is because the scriptures reference money over and over. Jesus spoke about money more than just about anything else. Why would Jesus do that?
Jesus’ words make it clear that there’s a deep connection between our spiritual lives and our relationship with money. You can’t help but conclude that there can be no significant spiritual growth until you put your money and your attitude towards it in God’s hands.
Unlike anything else, money vies to replace God in a person’s life. As we saw over these weeks from Jesus words, “You cannot love God and money.”
That means that the stakes are high when dealing with this subject. Our attitude towards and our relationship with money is a matter of eternal significance.
Most often when Jesus refers to rich people, they are not the heroes of the story. We see that God’s secret weapon to breaking the power that money has over us is generosity.
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
In this parable, Jesus is invited to the home of a prominent Pharisee. As Luke describes the scene, this is not a simple dinner party for a bunch of friends as we might experience.
In the Roman world there was a patronage system in place. The term “patronage”refers to a form of social ordering where wealthy patrons would extend their help to a lower-class client. In return, that client would offer their loyalty and obedience.
When a patron would put on a dinner it offered clients an opportunity for advancement. The dinner was the primary way that a lower-class person could enhance their social status.
The closer you were to a wealthy patron the more social status you enjoyed and the greater your chance for advancement. With advancement came greater opportunities and financial status.
So, a banquet was for networking, for making deals, for establishing your place in society. As Jesus is observing the guests, he notices how they are jockeying for position.
Jesus addresses the need for humility. And, often when this passage is considered in a sermon, the preacher will emphasize the inclusiveness of the gospel. The kingdom of God is a feast to which all are invited. Through Jesus, all can come. He came to establish a kingdom where status and social position come down.
I also want us to see the radical generosity that Jesus is calling for in this passage. In verse 12 Jesus turns to the host and what he says is astonishing. Here they are at a dinner with people jockeying for position and Jesus’ words to the host are a rebuke.
“When you give a luncheon or dinner do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbours.” Here’s who you should invite to a banquet: “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.”
We need to pause here to understand what Jesus is saying. Is this a blanket statement for all people for all circumstances? The obvious answer is no.
Jesus is not prohibiting family gatherings or evenings out with friends.
Here Jesus is making a point with an idiom. Idioms are not meant to be taken literally. They are meant to get your attention. Like when Jesus taught on the danger of lust he says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.”
The reason Jesus gives is that a dinner with friends and relatives in the patronage system was motivated by social and economic advancement. This is not generosity. You’ll be repaid and that’s all the reward you’ll get.
When you put on a banquet for those who will be of no advantage to your social or economic status, God sees and will reward you.
Part of the reward is that though the poor can’t repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Verse 14 is a restating of the message that Jesus consistently conveys; what you give away you’ll be able to enjoy in eternity.
If we get what Jesus is saying through this idiom it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that what you give that will enhance the physical and spiritual wellbeing of people should be more than what you spend on enhancing your financial and social status in this life.
Jesus turns their and our cultural norm on its head. We see spending money on ourselves as a priority and generosity as a nice thing to do if I’ve got some money left over.
We imagine that if I put on a banquet for people who will never be able to benefit me it means that I’ll be poorer. And in the natural it looks that way.
Jesus says here that repayment is coming. You might not see repayment in this life, but you will enjoy it in the life to come. The way of God’s kingdom is generosity.
I think it’s noteworthy that Jesus was speaking to people who subscribed to the Old Testament law of tithing. They gave a tenth of their increase to God. Generosity began after they had already given their tithe.
Can you see how Jesus’ words are an astounding standard for generosity? If it makes you uncomfortable, you’re not alone. To prioritize generosity over maintaining my status and financial wellbeing doesn’t come naturally.
The Parable of the Great Banquet
In the second parable a man prepared a banquet and invited his friends. The host has everything ready but no guests come. The host is angry and sends his servants out to bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.
It’s a not-so-subtle dig against the Pharisees. God had invited them to his banquet, but they had busied themselves to the point that they didn’t want a relationship with God. Their refusal to come to God’s great banquet didn’t cancel the banquet. It got filled up with people who they regarded as unimportant.
The kingdom of God is for those who would never make it in on their own merit. The banquet host has paid the way for me to get in.
Notice in verse 16 that it’s a great banquet. The word for great is “megas.” It’s not a potluck. It’s all bought and paid for me to enjoy.
What’s the point and what’s the connection to the earlier parable? I am reminded of the passage in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. In those two chapters Paul is appealing to the church in Corinth to be generous in providing for the church in Jerusalem that was going through famine.
Paul’s team was collecting funds for famine relief. In these chapters Paul references the churches in Macedonia who, amid their own severe trial, which Paul describes as “extreme poverty,” welled up in rich generosity.
He goes on to describe their generosity in 8:3 saying, “…they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability.” They had nothing and they still found a way to demonstrate generosity.
As Paul describes their radical generosity, he identifies their motivation. In 2 Corinthians 9:8 he writes, “For you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
There are two things to note:
Jesus models radical generosity. He gives up the riches and the privilege of heaven to come to earth and then to literally spend his life for my sake so that I’d have a seat at God’s banquet table of grace. He purchases my salvation so that I can come into the riches of salvation: abundant life now and an eternity with God. He models generosity.
His grace is the basis for my generosity towards others. Our motivation for generosity is not compulsion. It’s not because someone twists my arm hard enough.
Here’s the motivation for generosity:
Having experienced God’s extravagant grace, I’m free to cheerfully give, as an expression of my gratitude to God and my trust in God, that as I give, He’ll put more in my hands to give away.
— Notes from Pastor Marvin Wojda’s sermons on March 26th and 27th, 2022.
CLICK HERE to watch the full service on YouTube.