Give to God

Homily for Sunday, November 9, 2025
The Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost
Luke 20:27-38

If a literary analysis website like Sparknotes or Shmoop were to analyze St. Luke’s Gospel (from which we just heard), in addition to providing a plot summary and a list of themes and maybe something about the author and the historical setting, the site also likely would provide a character list.  At the top of the list would be the main character, Jesus, and then probably “the twelve,” and then probably other lesser but still important characters like Mary and the angel Gabriel and Pontius Pilate.  The list would then move to lesser characters like Elizabeth and Simeon and Zacchaeus.  At the very bottom of the list would be the Sadducees, who appear exactly once in Luke’s Gospel, in this morning’s lesson:  “Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question…”

Though the Sadducees are the most minor of characters in Luke’s Gospel, they raise a question about the most important theme of Luke’s Gospel, which is:  resurrection. “Teacher,” the Sadducees say…

Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless… In the resurrection… whose wife will she be?

In the first century, the resurrection would have been important to Jesus’ disciples, and also to Luke and his community, as well as to the “frenemies” of the Sadducees, the Pharisees, because (to quote Paul in 1 Corinthians), if for this life only they had hoped in Christ, they would have been of all people most to be pitied (1Cor 15:19).  First-Century Palestine was occupied by an invading army, and – as we know from Jesus’ crucifixion – the Romans brooked no opposition.  Writing about twenty years after the First Jewish Revolt, Luke and his congregation would remember the hundreds of thousands – some estimate well over a million – who died in the revolt, whether in battle or in massacres of towns or through the subsequent famines and slave trade after the war.  If God could not keep God’s promises and enact God’s justice beyond the bounds of this world – if there were no resurrection, and if God’s promises were for this world only – then for Luke’s community (and also the Pharisees), the brutal Roman Empire would have had the last word.  In such a world, how could God’s creation be said to be just?  How could God be said even to exist?  

Living under the Roman Empire, with its disregard for human life, Luke’s congregation “believed in the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”  They had reason to pray as in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Luke’s community believed that, because of Jesus’ resurrection, the day would come when justice would be served, when the mighty indeed would be cast down from their thrones and the lowly lifted up.  

Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, the wartime Cardinal of Paris once said that, “To be a witness…  means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.” Believing that God’s justice extends beyond the bounds of this world,believing “in the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come, ”Luke urged his community live in such a way that their lives would not make sense if God did not exist.  In Luke’s Gospel John the Baptist says, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise” (3:11).  It is in Luke that Jesus says, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you” (14:13-14).  In Luke Jesus says, “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions” (14:33).  It is in Luke that Jesus proclaims not, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” but, “Blessed are you who are poor,” and in which Jesus says not, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” but, “Blessed are you who are hungry.”

Because they believed in Jesus’ resurrection and that there is an existence beyond in which wrongs are made right and in which justice prevails, Luke and his community could live their lives in such a way that would not make sense if God did not exist.

Today is our annual Consecration Sunday, the day on which we are invited to make a pledge of financial support to Trinity Parish for the coming year.  In some ways, it doesn’t make sense to give:  we have mortgages to pay, car payments to make, kids to put through school, retirement for which to save…  Yet in this morning’s Gospel Jesus speaks to some who do not believe in resurrection.  The Sadducees believed that this world is the only world, and Jesus speaks to them truth, that there is to this world more than meets the eye, that there is resurrection.  The powers of this world believe neither in God nor in a world to come, and these powers likely would tell us it makes no sense to give to God and God’s work here at Trinity Parish.  

These powers might regard me of all people most to be pitied because I say I find joy in giving ten percent of my income to God and God’s work here at Trinity Parish.  “Think of that sports car you could drive,” they might say.  “Think of the vacations you could take or how much you might have in your retirement account, if you only gave, say, five percent, or better yet only three percent, or better still only two percent, of your income.”  But I suppose I believe God exists.  I must believe in the resurrection from the dead and the life of world to come; I must believe that God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  And so I give ten percent.  Are there days on which I regret giving generously?  Sometimes, when my inner “Sadducee,” who says there is no life beyond this, catches me.  But more often, in giving generously I’ve discovered (as Jesus told the disciples), that “there is no one who has left house… or fields for my sake who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age” (Mark 10:29-30).  Giving ten percent has uncovered within a deep well of joy, a well that never runs dry.  I’ve never met a ten percent giver who did not have a profound joy.

And if you think you’ll have less money when you give generously, I tell you from experience that the reverse is true – when we give generously, we discover how wealthy we are.  I used to worry regularly about not having enough money, but since giving ten percent I’ve never worried about having enough money.  It makes no sense, I know– I suppose God must exist.

Remembering all that Jesus has said, that there is a resurrection from the dead and a life of the world to come, and keeping in mind all you have discovered about Jesus and the ways in which he sustains you, I wonder what God might be calling you to give to God and God’s work at Trinity Parish for 2026? If you do not already, maybe make 2026 the year to give ten percent of your income.  It would make no sense, I know, if God did not exist.  But for those who give ten percent you will – I guarantee it – [you will] discover joy,and a freedom from worrying about having enough.  It is a joy and freedom beyond anything the world can give.