The Largest Donation Ever
One last story about William and Ann. About a year after I first met them at church, they called me and asked for a meeting at Starbucks. At the meeting, William looked at me across the table nervously and said, “Pastor, our church means so much to us. The love we have received from these people has been such an important part of our recovery, and we wanted to do something to say thank you. I come from a very wealthy family and Ann and I just received a large inheritance, and we would like to give some of that to the church.”
William handed me a check. It was made out to the church in the amount of fifty dollars. To this day, that fifty dollars is the largest gift I have ever witnessed being given to the church.
A full tithe? I doubt it. Technically correct according to biblical standards for giving? Not even close. But the trajectory of William’s and Ann’s hearts in that moment was monumental. It was sign of the kingdom that starts small, but that grows into something mighty over time.
Jesus said to the Pharisees, I assure you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you!
What if William and Ann, at their very worst, are heirs of the kingdom? What if the Church Guy, at his very best and after a lifetime of church-going, falls short of kingdom fitness?
All the fitness Jesus requires is to feel your need of him.
Jesus And The Church Guy
This brings me to a final thought. What does Jesus think of the Church Guy? What should we think of the Church Guy? I must admit that I left that Sunday feeling very cynical, wishing that the Church Guy wasn’t part of the church – wasn’t part of “us.”
And yet, as I continued down the path of cynicism about the Church Guy – that the problem with the world is people like that man – I realized that I, too, was becoming the Church Guy.
You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
– Anne Lamott
Did you know that there is such thing as a Grace-Pharisee? A Grace-Pharisee is anyone who becomes an unloving Pharisee toward unloving Pharisees.
When Jesus saw the crowds [many of them Pharisees and scribes], he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
When Jesus saw a city full of Pharisee Church Guys, he wept over it
When the smug, self-righteous son removed himself from the coming-home party that the father held in honor of the other son, the one with the dirty jeans and t-shirt with the smell of nicotine and booze and prostitutes and addiction wafting off of him, the father leaves the party – he leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one.
My son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found.
Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hidden battle.
If there’s hope for William and Ann, there can be hope for the Pharisee, yes?
The Pharisee in us – the smug Law-Pharisee and the dismissive Grace-Pharisee – mistakenly believes it is his job to decide who is in and who is out. The Pharisee separates the world into us and them, the good people and the bad people. But Jesus. Jesus! Jesus separates the world into the proud and the humble. He joyfully and longingly widens his “us” to welcome the junkies and the cussing moms…and also the judgmental church guys.
Are we ready to do the same?
This article originally appeared here.
