Title: Economic Morality
Author: Christopher Harbin
Text: Mark 12:38-44
I grew up with very little spiritual instruction around finances and economics. We didn't really talk about it. We talked tithing. We talked giving to missions. We talked supporting good causes. Beyond that, we never addressed any issue of note. We mentioned not serving wealth in exchange for God, but it was as though once you had tithed, that was the end of it. No one came out and said it, but the message was something like, "If God received a tithe, there was no way you could be serving money in place of God." That doesn't really track with Jesus' comments on money and wealth. Economics was inseparably tied to morality, justice, and righteousness for the Hebrew prophets. Why would we pretend Jesus took a different direction?
This is hardly the first or only time Jesus has discussed economic questions. A couple chapters back, we saw Jesus talking about the difficulty of the wealthy entering God's Reign. He had lauded those who gave up material possessions and even family with assurance of heavenly reward. He has cast merchants out of the Temple. He has responded twice about paying taxes, both to Caesar and the Temple. He spoke of renters of a vineyard paying the landholder faithfully. Now he points to those who gain wealth, power, and position by oppressing the vulnerable. He adds to that responding to the widow bringing the little bit she had as of much greater worth than the huge sums the wealthy brought to the Temple treasury.
None of that refers to tithing. The word doesn't even show up in Mark's gospel. Jesus didn't preach against tithing. When Jesus speaks of financial giving in Mark's gospel, he goes much further than tithing. He speaks of submitting everything to God. From what he says here, tithing would be a bare minimum. It would fulfill the letter of one part of the law, while ignoring so much more. That's something we never discussed when I was growing up. Instead, we ...
Author: Christopher Harbin
Text: Mark 12:38-44
I grew up with very little spiritual instruction around finances and economics. We didn't really talk about it. We talked tithing. We talked giving to missions. We talked supporting good causes. Beyond that, we never addressed any issue of note. We mentioned not serving wealth in exchange for God, but it was as though once you had tithed, that was the end of it. No one came out and said it, but the message was something like, "If God received a tithe, there was no way you could be serving money in place of God." That doesn't really track with Jesus' comments on money and wealth. Economics was inseparably tied to morality, justice, and righteousness for the Hebrew prophets. Why would we pretend Jesus took a different direction?
This is hardly the first or only time Jesus has discussed economic questions. A couple chapters back, we saw Jesus talking about the difficulty of the wealthy entering God's Reign. He had lauded those who gave up material possessions and even family with assurance of heavenly reward. He has cast merchants out of the Temple. He has responded twice about paying taxes, both to Caesar and the Temple. He spoke of renters of a vineyard paying the landholder faithfully. Now he points to those who gain wealth, power, and position by oppressing the vulnerable. He adds to that responding to the widow bringing the little bit she had as of much greater worth than the huge sums the wealthy brought to the Temple treasury.
None of that refers to tithing. The word doesn't even show up in Mark's gospel. Jesus didn't preach against tithing. When Jesus speaks of financial giving in Mark's gospel, he goes much further than tithing. He speaks of submitting everything to God. From what he says here, tithing would be a bare minimum. It would fulfill the letter of one part of the law, while ignoring so much more. That's something we never discussed when I was growing up. Instead, we ...
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