Narrative Lectionary Summer Series – 2 Corinthians Series, “Generosity”
2 Cor 8:1-15
Free Additional Resources for Study & Sermon Preparation
Furthering the Power of God’s Story – Narrative Lectionary Commentary
by Pastor Ron Valadez
Chapters 9 and 10 always make me laugh! I’m imagining those first members of that first church in Corinth. They’re at their monthly council meeting, and the president shares with them this letter from Paul. Not long into chapter eight, the treasurer interrupts by loudly exclaiming, “I knew it! I knew this was all leading to asking us for money!” Any of you know a treasurer like that? God bless them for protecting our resources as well as they do! And you couldn’t blame any of them for reacting this way. I mean, it does kind of feel like Paul is pulling a fast one on them! Even reading it today it seems a bit out of place. You can’t help but think, “This is where he was going with all this?” Especially if you take into consideration that many scholars think this is where the original letter ended, and that chapters 10-13 are not only from another letter, but may have been sent before this one!
However, if you take this letter as a whole, you begin to see that it does in fact jibe with the rest of this letter, that this is a natural conclusion after all. This letter has laid out a whole new way of living for them. (Not this was news to them, Paul has been trying to pound this through their thick skulls from day one.) A way of living that was very counter-cultural, and even more than that, it was very counter-humanity (and I’d argue just as much today as then). These teachings go against the grain of our basic instincts, which is why it is taking so long for them to get it. We are wired, biologically and psychologically, to think of the self first, to protect one’s own interests first, to survive first—me first—or us first.
And then Jesus comes along and teaches us a new way of living, a new way of relating to others, and thereby to God. So, Paul’s teaching on generosity here falls right in line with the rest of this letter after all. It is not natural for us to give to others, especially when our own future is uncertain. No, we save for a rainy day! But Paul guides us to see those whom it is raining on now, and reach into our pockets. For Paul, this is one of those places where the rubber hits the road. As one of my favorite authors on stewardship, J. Clif Christopher, wrote, “Nothing is more revealing of what is happening inside people’s hearts than what decisions they are making with their pocketbook.” The first time I read that I thought, “Ouch. That stings.” It certainly hit close to home, and I think this letter of Paul’s must have too.
This new way of living is easy for us to talk about, right up until it hits our wallets. That’s when many of us hesitate. But for Paul, it was a great measuring stick, a way to see if the teachings that he had been handing down from Jesus, were really sticking or not. This note is in our worship bulletin every week, “For two thousand years, churches across the globe have collected a weekly offering for God’s work in the world. In addition to paying our staff and utilities, these monies also go toward feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, caring for the ill, and natural disaster work, in partnership with Lutherans around the world.” Giving generously is not only a longstanding tradition for us, but it goes so much deeper than “They’re asking for money again!” This is a reflection of who we are, of what we stand for, and of how seriously we take this faith business.
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The following links and resources are not produced or maintained by Clergy Stuff. However, at the time of this posting, the links were active and considered to be good source material for proclamation for the text for this week. Please scroll down or click on the quick jump menu you find below. For more free worship resources & planning materials, please visit our links for RCL Worship Resources.
Contemporary Resources
Paul’s Collection for Jerusalem: A Perilous Journey, by Dr. Dietrich-Alex Koch
Generosity Is Not Optional, by Theology of Work Project
How to Buy Happiness, by Michael Norton
A Good Read
Not Your Parents' Offering Plate
by J. Clif Christopher
People don’t give to church because we don’t offer them a compelling vision of the good their giving will achieve. Hearing a young attorney speak of the faithbased reasons for which he had just made a substantial monetary gift to a community youth center, Clif Christopher asked the speaker if he would consider making a similar contribution to the congregation of which he was an active member. “Lord, no they would not know what to do with it” was the answer. That, in a nutshell, describes the problem churches are facing in their stewardship efforts, says Christopher. Unlike leading nonprofit agencies and institutions, we too often fail to convince potential givers that their gifts will have impact and significance. In this book, Christopher lays out the main reasons for this failure to capture the imagination of potential givers, including our frequent failure simply to ask. Written with the needs of pastors and stewardship teams in mind, Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate provides immediate, practical guidance to all who seek to help God’s people be better stewards of their resources.
Video Resources
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How to Build a Church of Generous Givers
Daily Devotional Feed
Free Dramatic Reading For This Text (NRSV)
Readers: Paul 1, Paul 2
Paul 1: We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
Paul 2: For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints— and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you.
Paul 1: Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others.
Paul 2: For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something— now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have.
Paul 1: I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.”