Generosity Is Righteousness

Scripture: Psalm 37:21 – “The wicked borrow, and do not pay back, but the righteous are generous and keep giving…” (NRSV)

I have mentioned it before, but I find it is often true that people with less money tend to be more generous. This is not always true; there are many poor people who are extremely mean with their money and many rich that are extremely generous and philanthropic. But too often the rich make excuses about giving to others or participating in systems that try to benefit others. They say that giving a twenty to a woman with a crude cardboard sign begging for money or to a man at the intersection trying to clean their windshield and say, “They will just spend it on drugs.” They say that teaching a man to fish is better than feeding a man a fish. However, too often the man is desperate for the fish today and perhaps is not allowed to get into the school where fish catching is taught. I have observed that for some, generosity to the poor is resisted out of fear; if one gives to the poor, there is always the chance that they might become poor themselves and that makes them terrified. Out of sight is out of mind.

However, even generosity can be problematic. In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus looks on the temple during his last week in Jerusalem. He sees the scribes, essentially wealthy lawyers, wearing luxurious clothing and demanding respect in the streets while they “devour widow’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.” Even those who put in large sums into the temple treasury are doing so mostly for appearances. The true hero, Jesus points out, is the widow who drops her two copper coins, all that she had, with the hope that others might be helped. She does not make any excuses. She sees a need and acts to fix it, for she does not fear poverty. She knows it and will do whatever she can to help others overcome it.

Psalm 37 points out that “the wicked borrow, but do not pay back.” They allow their wealth and status to help them get away with swindling their creditors. But it says that “the righteous are generous and keep giving.” God finds a way of helping the generous, whether it is through the support of the community to which they give or through the wisdom that comes from realizing that one can find peace and security with less. God calls us to righteousness and to generosity because it not only makes the world around us more lovely, but it makes us better people of faith.

Prayer: God, help me to count my blessings and not my dollars. Amen.