1 Kings 17:10-16 / Psalm 146 / Hebrews 9:24-28 / Mark 12:38-44

A couple of weeks ago I was over in the 4th Grade classroom and they were asking me a lot of random questions.  They started down a line of questions dealing with money… I can’t remember every one, but I know they asked me “How much money do you make per year as a priest?” to which I responded “$30,000. All priests make the same amount.” 

Then they asked me “Who paid for the church to be built?”  They must have known it wasn’t me or another priest on that kind of salary! So I responded, “Your ancestors really loved God and they paid a lot of money and gave a lot of labor to build that beautiful church!”

This church is beautiful, there are many beautiful churches here and in this area, it shows the faith was strong where people worked so hard and gave so much to build them.  If you look at what a society spends the majority of its money on, you will see what it loves and values the most, you know?

But as part of a society, we have to consider what we ourselves are willing to give for God, versus what we give to everything else that we love.

After college, when I first moved to Des Moines, I barely went to church, I doubt I gave much, I was barely willing to give an hour a week to go to a service on Sunday! (I wasn’t going to Catholic Mass very often at that point in my life, so I say “service” as in a Protestant worship service and not “Mass”.)   Over those eight years I began to grow in my faith, and as I did, I began to give more, and more, and more, until I was giving a full tithe, a full 10% of my income.

But as I read the Bible, this Gospel we just heard specifically, and as I listened and prayed with Jesus’ words, I began to realize, it wasn’t enough, even though I was putting in a large sum, this widow that put in two small coins, she had me beat. Jesus said, “For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”

I bet you’d all agree that it’s pretty unusual for a single guy in his late twenties to be giving 10% of salary away, but then on top of it, to think it wasn’t enough!

Because I knew that I could give more. What I was giving was just my surplus. And as I prayed about what to give, the answer came back, I want your whole livelihood too. I am calling you to be a priest.

That wasn’t the answer I wanted or expected, but you can see I followed through on the request. Most of you aren’t in that kind of a position, but there is an expectation that we give of our time, talent, and treasure in support of the mission of the Church.  

Our buildings are built, the important thing now is to build the faith, in ourselves, in our children, in our community, to evangelize and make disciples, starting with ourselves, that’s the mission of the Church.  Jesus’ last words to us were, “Go and make disciples.”

So what I’d like to recommend is what God recommends, give the first fruits to God and trust in Him to provide.  

It was interesting in that first reading, the widow is like, I only have a little food left, I plan to eat it and die, starve to death, and the prophet Elijah is like no, feed me first, and then you can eat, and trust me the jars won’t go empty.

She had to be thinking he was out of his mind, absolutely crazy, but she did as he asked her to do, gave him the first fruits, and then she saw, the jars never went empty.

God wants our first fruits, not our leftovers.  Sure, He will accept our leftovers, something is better than nothing, but He wants to be thought of first.  

For example, a time example, I believe the first thing we should do in the morning is pray.  I have been trying to do this myself, because I know that if I try to wait until later in the day, the day will get away from me, I’ll get busy with other things, and I will end up just praying before bed, giving God the leftovers, not actually good prayer time, and most likely falling asleep half way through my prayers.  

Another example, according to Jesus in the Gospel, when we go to make our budget or pay our bills, the first thought should be how much we are giving to the Church and other charities.  If we wait and figure that out at the end, then we are just giving out of our surplus treasure.

From what I have found and seen with my family and others, God always comes through.  He never lets us starve, He truly is a good Father who wants to take care of us when we trust in Him, just like the widows in today’s readings.

Finally, an example for our talent, where can we use the gifts and talents we have to serve the Church?  God has given these gifts and talents, often our first thought is how can we use them to work and make money, but God wants us to think of Him first, how can we use these talents for Him, to glorify Him?

And it is just like your ancestors spending their time and using their talent to build this beautiful Church, to worship Him and honor Him with their firstfruits, with their whole livelihood.

Why do we do this? In the eyes of the world, everything I am saying sounds like a total waste of time and money. Our second reading reminds us “why” we do this:

“Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf… offered once to take away the sins of many… [and] to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.”

Before Jesus came, we were stuck in our sin, the gates to Heaven were closed, but by His suffering, death and Resurrection, Jesus has overcome the power of sin and death, and won our forgiveness and freedom.  

We were captured and ransomed at a cost, at a price we could never pay, but He has redeemed us by His blood, Jesus paid the price on our behalf, and has brought us eternal salvation.

When we think about it like that, I don’t know about you, but for me, giving God the firstfruits of my earthly life doesn’t seem so bad in light of what He has done for me in giving me eternal life.

What is God calling you to give?  How is He calling you into deeper discipleship?

Recently, I’ve noticed Amazon started a new strategy, I have to laugh every time I see it, I get a notification, or an email, saying “Your cart is calling.” And it says, “Click now to complete your purchase.” My shopping cart is calling huh?  The world is always calling us to do something and more often than not it’s trying to sell us something.

On one hand I wish God’s call was always that straightforward, but maybe that is okay, it allows us the free will to hear His call, to respond with generosity and trust in our own time.  

As I said last week, love and trust grow with time and experience. We are all on our own journeys, we are all walking our own path of faith with God, don’t doubt that He is calling you into deeper discipleship from wherever you are at, there is always more.  He loves us as His children and He will care for us in the same way.

Start today, try to give those first fruits with joy and love, and God will provide generously for us in the process, as a good Father who has done so much for us and just wants to be thought of first.