Are you a miser? Because God isn't. (Mark 5. 21-43, 2 Cor 8.7-15)

Where does it all go? Where? Where does what go, I hear you ask? The money. Where does all the money go?

No I haven’t stolen it… What bags, there are no bags in my car… Certainly not now… Look that money was just resting in my account…

Is this a question you’ve ever asked yourself? Where does the money go? Where’s it gone? Hands up if you’ve asked yourself this?

Have you ever looked at your bank balance and gone *gasp*, oh no! No how has that happened.

Lockdown was ludicrous wasn’t it? One of the strangest things about it for me was that even though I hadn’t been anywhere or done anything, still I was spending money! Where has it all gone? I thought. Anybody else feel like that?

For me it was probably going on stuff like takeaways and stuff to make me feel better about myself. I mean those ruby encrusted high heels really gave me a confidence boost.

Though as we probably know when we face up to it, filling our homes with shiny things doesn’t make us feel better really. It doesn’t fill that hole.

I am terrible with money. I don’t budget, and I don’t organise it the way I should. Sometimes I have to sit down with myself and say, right! Stop it! You don’t need that.

I might be bad with money, but I think I’m good with generosity.

Being generous with our money, our time and talents is important and part of Christian life. Because through this we become more like God, more like Jesus who is generous and gives what we don’t deserve.

Now let’s talk about Paul. Paul’s writing this letter to the Corinthians a successful and wealthy church, in you guessed it, sunny old Corinth.

“Ancient Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece… the city population was between 100,000 to 700,000 according to different sources.”[1]

It was an absolute metropolis for its day. Bustling, international, and on a trade route, a bit like Swaffham. What comes with trade? Money.

Paul, as usual’s got beef with The Cointhians, like first century Eastenders there’s been a bit of drama going on, so I’ll let you in on it.

Paul’s been sent on a mission to raise funds (sound familiar?) for the poor in Jerusalem.

Paul and the Corinthians haven’t been getting on. The first time he visited, he turned up and asked for them to contribute. A bit like one of those charity collectors on Gentleman’s walk that you try to avoid… We’ve all done it. They accused him of being ‘crafty’ and ‘deceitful’.

The second time he visited, it’s a PR disaster. They were horrible to him and he left feeling very offended. They probably used some very Anglo-Saxon terms, even though Anglo-Saxons hadn’t been invented yet.

By the time we get to second Corinthians luckily a bit of healing has happened and they’re on speaking terms again.

Paul sends this letter with his mate Titus which is probably what chapters 8-9 are, a composite of two different solicitation letters.

He’s asking them for money again. For him it’s about fairness and love. That the nature of what they give reflects their love for God, for the rest of the church and God’s generosity towards them;

“I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. ⁹ For you know the generous act^[c] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”

Paul’s explaining something really important about our faith here. That God is a God of self-giving love.

In Christ God became one of us. He didn’t do it to show off or prove how great he is. He did it because He loves us.

The only thing we can emulate of God, is God’s generosity.

We can’t miraculously heal people or raise people from the dead. Well I haven’t done that this week…

We can live in genuine love. We can be generous and loving to our neighbours. We can be generous to the church and to strangers. We can seek the common good.

We live in a world that is obsessed about fairness. But often in the wrong way.

Jerusalem was a long way from Corinth. I bet some people in Corinth were thinking why should we send money to them? Charity starts at home!

There’s been a lot of news about the aid budget recently. Many people have been saying, why should we send money to them? Charity starts at home.

My answer to that is where does that attitude get us?

I think this is similar to what Paul’s saying here. He says in v 10-12 you should want to help, and I know you want to really. So put that into action, match your eagerness to help with the amount you will give. You have the means so contribute.

We are an incredibly rich country. We have the means, so we should help.

The Corinthians had the means, so they should help the poor too.

If we have the means, we should help the poor and the church. Because it emulates God’s generosity.

Paul isn’t asking them to go beyond what they can give, and neither should we go beyond what we can give. As he says “I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance.”

We should be obsessed about fairness in the right way. Not like squabbling children who say, ‘well why does she get what I haven’t got?’ ‘Why do they get that, and I don’t?’ ‘Where are my Ruby encrusted high heels?’

Instead we should ask, who is giving what? Are the wealthy giving what they should? Am I giving what’s fair? Am I being generous? Are they being fair with what they plan to do, and who it effects?

One little thing we can do is if you’ve been vaccinated, twin your vaccine so that someone in the developing world can receive one. It’s only fair.

“it is a question of a fair balance between ¹⁴ your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. “

We give what we have, not what we have not.

In our Gospel reading we see the God of generosity in action. Two people come to Jesus. One a figure of authority, the other a poor and outcast woman suffering. A woman who wouldn’t have been allowed in the temple.

The Woman had given everything she had to be made better, but she had only got worse. Desperate she came to Jesus, and with faith touched Jesus’ cloak. She was too ashamed to come to Jesus and say ‘heal me’.

The response to her faith, to her anxious nervous approach is the overwhelming generosity of God, the wholeness and giving that only God can give. She comes with nothing, but herself. And that’s enough for Him.

Jesus says to her ‘Daughter your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

She doesn’t earn it, it’s given to her. It’s not about fairness, but about generosity and wholeness. There is no shame.

We’re not redeemed or saved by what we give, we’re redeemed by what God gives us.

When Jesus goes to restore the girl to life he said to the Synagogue Leader, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ Jesus doesn’t show off what he does, but gets rid of the crowd.

Why? Because God’s generosity is for everyone. A man in authority, and a poor woman who would’ve been a complete outcast.  

It’s their faith that brings God to them. It’s our faith that should empower us not to be afraid. Not to fear, but only believe and be generous.

Because do you know what? The Gospel is unfair. It’s so ludicrously unfair that it’s fair.

It’s unfair that God redeems us, even though we don’t deserve it. It’s unfair that God is so generous to us and loves us so much. It’s unfair that everything through Christ is redeemed and that grace is lavished upon us.

Because it would be unfair any other way. God’s generosity isn’t finite like our bank balance. The God of generosity calls us into love, and to be generous ourselves.

So give ludicrously and abundantly, without fear. Be generous because God is generous to you. 

We might not know where all the generosity goes, (like our money sometimes) but God uses it.

Because in the end we all get those fantastic, ruby encrusted high heels, that give us confidence. And we don’t even deserve them.   

 Preached at St Luke's Church Centre, Norwich. 05/07/2021 

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[1] https://donsnotes.wordpress.com/2014/09/07/introduction-authentic-context-corinth-in-pauls-day-and-some-historical-context/

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