In that first reading from Sirach, a book of the Wisdom of God, we hear,
“If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live….”
…., and,
Before man are life and death, good and evil,
whichever he chooses shall be given him.”
What a God we have! Whatever we choose shall be given to us. If we choose death, the actions of death, the culture of death, that is what we will be given. If we choose life, the actions of life, the culture of life, that is what we will be given.
“If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live….”
The Psalm tells us,
Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
God made us free. God gave us free will. We get to choose our destiny: Eternal life or death. However, He loves us and encourages us to live with Him by faithfully following His commandments.
God’s Law teaches us to be generous in our hearts and to grow in generosity. God teaches us to be forgiving and to care for one another, even to be careful not to offend our brother or sister. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us to seek forgiveness, saying,
“Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.”
We cannot purchase God’s blessings or forgiveness.
Jesus teaches us a new standard of behavior. We should examine our consciences. It’s not enough if we have not killed anyone. But, we should not hate them or hold grudges against them, either. It is not enough that we have not actually committed adultery, but we must examine our hearts to free ourselves of any lust.
And, God accepts no form of divorce, and if divorced persons remarry, that is adultery.
This is not man’s law. This is God’s law. Jesus warns us about final judgment for those who fail to follow God’s commandments:
“whoever says, ‘You fool,’
will be liable to fiery Gehenna.”
We are to seek reconciliation with God and with our neighbors if we wish to avoid the fiery Gehenna.
But there is something more in the Gospel that calls us to pay attention when Jesus says,
“Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.”
Jesus assumes that his followers will not miss mass, but will approach the altar regularly. Additionally, it is expected that we will bring gifts of thanksgiving to the altar, and never come empty handed.
Throughout the Bible, the authors of the Bible consistently speak of our “tithes” as ten percent of our income. Here we must speak of generosity.
Tithing is not a commandment, but a sign of our response with our generosity. Those who know and appreciate their blessings from God want to give back. The more we know and love Him, the more we want to give back. Look at our Religious Sisters, the Disciples of Jesus. Once they have made perpetual vows to Jesus, they take the wedding ring and desire to become His spouse, married to him. That is their perpetual vow. They have given everything. The Church and the Bible are full of examples of saintly people giving everything for God, even their lives.
God knows we have needs and doesn’t demand everything from us. However, as we grow and mature spiritually, we naturally grow in generosity. In fact, our generous response is a genuine sign of our spiritual maturity. Through scripture, God gives us the example of giving at least ten percent of our income, and he blesses that that generosity.
Can we consider ourselves generous if we give less than ten percent? Anything less than ten percent is not a sign of spiritually maturity. Generosity begins at ten percent.
As we grow in generosity, we mature spiritually, and enjoy the Blessings of God. Throughout the Bible we hear of giving our “First fruits”. Imagine a farmer who plants a large field of grain. When the harvest comes he is grateful to God for the harvest and shows his trust in God by giving the first part of the harvest to God. He doesn’t give the last part, or whatever is left over. Imagine a worker who receives an hourly wage. If he or she is grateful to God for their job and wages, then the worker would give their “first fruits” as the first hour of his or her wages on Monday morning, not what is loose change or left over in his pocket at the end of the week. That is not generosity.
If we wish to grow spiritually and trust in God, and grow our gifts to a tithe, we would increase the first fruits to four or five hours of salary each week. Four hours of salary would be a complete tithe if we worked forty hours a week. Imagine giving the first hour of your salary on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That would be a full tithe. Everything else is yours, to take care of your family and yourself. God will continue to bless you. You grow to trust in God’s blessings.
The idea of “first fruits” is that we become confident that everything we have is a gift from God and that we can count on him. We learn to trust in God. By our participation in the tithe, we grow closer to him and say to God,
“Here I am, Lord. You can count on me.”