Reflection
Is Jesus saying that we should give money to homeless people that we suspect will use it for alcohol??? During this discourse, Jesus names two reference points as benchmarks for his type of self-giving life. Jesus’ first reference point is our own needs and desires. We are to treat others ‘as you want people to treat you’ (6:31). This is a helpful benchmark since we are usually more in touch with our own desires rather than the desires of others. We usually want to treat ourselves well.
driven by a profit motive, whether the return is financial or comes in the form of emotional or social commodities, like status. It is challenging, however, since we are more inclined to treat others as they treat us and relate on the level of mere reciprocation. Jesus’ call is high because he calls us to treat others not as they treat us but as we would wish to be treated by them, even when they are treating us badly. Jesus’ second reference point is God’s character of mercy: ‘as your Father is merciful’ (6:36). Jesus calls his disciples to live in light of God’s mercy, which means not judging, giving and lending without expectation of return, doing good, and loving enemies. Jesus calls his disciples to manifest God’s character of mercy in them. We are to become both recipients and vessels of God’s mercy.
It may not be that you give them exactly what they want, or what they think they need, but you maintain an open handed posture towards them. So it’s not that you’re continually exposing yourself to being taken advantage of, but that you’re continually looking for ways to engage others with the goodness of Jesus, of saying that THEY are more valuable to you and to Jesus than WHAT YOU OWN. Greed or generosity?!? And what’s more, you can structure your life to maximize your generosity. Because if you’re really going to live this way, you need to plan it into your life. What would it mean to buy clothes at Goodwill stores? What if you bought fewer CD’s, looked for more creative and less expensive ways of having fun, in order to commit to giving more money away? What if you took your eating out budget and sent it to Compassion International? What if you went to a less expensive grad school, so you wouldn’t be locked into some job just to repay your debt, and you could go off and do something that benefited the poor? Or what if you were an employee who turns down promotions in order to care for people? Or be more available to your neighborhood? Make those decisions now!
