Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Jesus of Nazareth
We all know that the statement at the start of this Reflection is not entirely true - at least, that's the way it seems when we take it out of it's context, out of the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve all prayed for something and not received it. And we concoct all sorts of reasons to explain why God doesn’t give what’s wanted, whether it’s a child's request for an unsuitable Christmas present or experienced intercessors seeking physical healing for a devoted Christian.
One reason (but not the only reason) for unanswered prayer is given by James in his letter to feuding Christians. ‘You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions’. We ought to spend a moment on this because it illuminates some of the financial implications of the Sermon on the Mount.
James wrote to churches to deal with the problems that existed between rich and poor Christians. The rich were indifferent to the needs of the poor and the poor were impatient with the rich for their indifference. ‘What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?’ James writes. 'Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?’ (James 4:1-4).
Did James refer to literal murder? I think so, although not a legal liability for murder. I think the ‘murder’ he had in mind was the result of the indifference of rich Christians who ‘let nature take its course’. This was a failure both to love their fellow Christians in a way that would distinguish them as true disciples of Jesus and of the more general responsibility to love their neighbours as themselves. They were, instead, governed by the same attitude towards money, even to the point of withholding their employees' wages! They had the same desires for wealth and possessions, the same pride and jealousy and covetousness as everyone else in society. They enjoyed their, 'adultery' - their unfaithfulness to God, their 'friendship with the world'
Unfortunately, it seems to me to be no better today. The collections taken at most churches, and the problems that many church leaders have to 'make ends meet', is evidence that most Christians are not as generous as Jesus expected. Worse, I've come across Christians whose business tactics have been no better than the most unscrupulous non-believers. Exaggeration, evasiveness and embellishment that a previous generation would have called lying have not been uncommon. One Christian even said to me that if what he did wasn't illegal, it couldn't be sinful!
Unfortunately, it seems to me to be no better today. The collections taken at most churches, and the problems that many church leaders have to 'make ends meet', is evidence that most Christians are not as generous as Jesus expected. Worse, I've come across Christians whose business tactics have been no better than the most unscrupulous non-believers. Exaggeration, evasiveness and embellishment that a previous generation would have called lying have not been uncommon. One Christian even said to me that if what he did wasn't illegal, it couldn't be sinful!
We’ve reflected on Jesus paradigm for handling money earlier in this series: to use it as a tool without letting it influence us; not worrying about our daily needs, such as food and clothing, but relying on God to provide. We should not let the financial consequences prevent us from living as Jesus described. 'The Lord is at hand', St Paul wrote. 'Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.' (Philippians 4:5-6). It's only when we do live this way, depending on God and not money, that we can depend on the promise at the start of this Reflection and be able to say with Paul, 'I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me'. Take some time this weekend to reflect on what Philippians 4:4-13 and Hebrews 13:5-6 say about contentment.
I think one reason that Jesus then included a warning against judgementalism in the Sermon was to deter his disciples from trying to impose their personal standards of behaviour on each other: how much to spend on clothes, cars and leisure activities, for example. This again takes us back to James’ letter. It would seem that although the rich Christians were clearly in the wrong, the thrust of much of James’ criticism was that the poor were just as wrong in their judgementalism - in judging them out of a spirit of bitterness and frustration rather than out of compassion. That’s why he warned about taming their tongues, exercising wisdom from above and, at the end of the letter, bringing back sinners from their wanderings.
Finally, Jesus again warns against superficial discipleship, one that professes allegiance and may even demonstrate correct understanding - what we might today consider to be orthodoxy. Like many of the Pharisees, we can build fine reputations on sand and end up strangers to Jesus, eventually hearing from him that he never knew us, in spite of our preaching, prophesying and even miracles. 'If you love me, you will keep my commandments', Jesus said (John 14:15). If we don't love him, we can't expect his intimacy!
When our lives are built on the attitudes and ways of the societies in which we live, relying on money rather than God just like everyone else, we are, inadvertently perhaps, serving money while claiming to serve God. Just like many of the Pharisees. And like them, we have everything - quite literally, everything - to lose. But living as Jesus described in the Sermon on the Mount is to accumulate treasures in heaven, true wealth for eternity that can never be taken from us and which we can draw upon right now.
© All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans 2014.
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