The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

Heart Transformation for Love, Part Five – Give to Him Who Asks:  Mt.5:42

^5:42 Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

          Out of all Jesus’ commands in 5:38 – 48, this is probably the hardest one for me to understand, and also to apply.  Give to him who asks?  Anyone and everyone?  Give him whatever he asks for?  Even the panhandlers on the street?  Even the prostitute who wanted to live in my house?  Even the already wealthy friend who might not pay me back?  Even the charity telemarketer who wants me to donate to some random scholarship fund?  What do I do when there is a hurricane, tsunami, or earthquake relief effort?

          Here’s my best attempt at honoring Jesus’ teaching.  First, I think Jesus really does mean for our lives to be one continuous display of generosity.  He was radically generous; he gave up the soaring freedom of heaven to be limited as a human man living among a relatively poor and oppressed people.  And in his day to day life, he cared for people.  If our lives are meant to reflect his love and goodness, by his Spirit living in us, he will do similar things through us.

But second, I think Jesus intends for us to give proportionately more to the poor.  Israel, under God’s command in the Mosaic Law, already had a strong ethic of helping the poor (Dt.15:7 – 10).  And we know that Jesus calls us to go even deeper and further than the Mosaic Law.  Look at how similar the language is:

^Dt.15:7 If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; ⁸ but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks…¹⁰ You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.  ¹¹ For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’ 

So that means I probably don’t give money to already wealthy people who are irresponsible or people who may be trying to con me.  I can try to be generous with my time, energy, and money, but I cannot do everything at once.  I have to make real choices between all kinds of people who are asking things of me.

When I graduated from college in 1994, I got a job at Intel, and soon afterwards I moved into a Mexican immigrant community in East Palo Alto, CA to do ministry there.  One morning, I was heading out to work, and Graciela Sanchez, a grandmother who was about 50 years old, asked me if I could give her a ride to work.  Her usual ride, she told me, had been arrested.  So I gave her a ride that day.  We spoke in Spanish so I could practice.  I gave her a ride the next day.  I got to know her family better.  I gave her rides to and from her work for over a year.  Needless to say, that constrained my work hours.  This was during the heyday of the late 90’s when the stock price was doubling every year.  Employee surveys showed that over 2/3 of all Intel employees worked more than 50 hours a week.  Usually, single people lead the rat race because it’s not until you’re married do other people look at you as if you have a life outside of work.  But I wasn’t married then; instead, I was doing enjoying what Jesus was doing through me, enjoying my Christian team of friends, and discipling some younger guys.  One day my supervisors offered me a promotion.  I thought and prayed about it, studied Scripture, and decided NO.  It would require too much from me.  Some said, “Really?  You’d get more stock, more impact in the company, more visibility.  Plus, we could use your help here.”  I said, “I’m sorry.  I’m a Christian, and I feel like what Jesus is doing with me outside of work is too valuable – I don’t want to cut into that.”  Within the next year, they offered me another promotion, and I turned that one down, too.  By the time I was there for 4 years or so, I had mastered my job and was working about 30 hours a week.  People knew that I loved Jesus and that he mattered to me, not least because every Monday, my co-workers asked me how my weekend was, and I told them about the youth in my apartment, about how we prayed for them, about how we valued spiritual mentoring, about how I saw families that had been transformed.  And most importantly in this example, Grandma Graciela had asked me if I could be ‘el padrino’ – the godfather – to her son Uriel.  In Mexican culture, that is a huge privilege, and I felt very honored.  I was able to share that.  All these opportunities happened because I allowed Jesus to shape my heart and my responses.

           That leads me to my third conclusion.  I don’t think that Jesus means that I have to give people exactly what they ask for.  The overall context of Jesus’ teaching on the heart and the movement of his kingdom suggest to me that he thinks of giving as a way of starting or deepening a relationship.  But it’s unmanageable that I give exactly what people ask for.  So I have carried apples and oranges in my car to give to homeless people on the street; I feel better about that than giving money, although they haven’t always taken fruit.  I do try to be flexible when people borrow money from me and wind up owing me, but I politely ask them to repay me, too, because I think it’s good for resourced American people to be respectful of their commitments, so that I can give more money to overseas ministries.

           Fourth, all this helps me to not be just reactive, and give when people ask me, but to study my giving options and set priorities beforehand.  I want my family to be proactive, and give a significant amount of money especially to the poor.  My wife and I periodically re-evaluate where we’re giving to, and how much.  I also offer my opinion to my church that we give to effective ministries in poor countries, to a homeless ministry in Boston, and to a youth summer job fund to give urban kids the chance to work. 

           I just hope, when I meet Jesus face to face, that he will say, ‘Well done in this area, good and faithful servant.’  I hope you make it a spiritual discipline to learn about organizations especially helping the poor around the world.  Start with Opportunity International, the Mennonite Central Committee, and World Vision.  I also hope you get to know someone who is homeless.  Understand their story.  And check out this newspaper article about Christians living simply, to give more generously, in community:  http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2009/0201/a-spiritual-approach-to-money.