November's Gospel Readings Related to Generosity

We’re going to take a peek at the gospel readings that you’ll hear in Orthodox Churches in the upcoming month. There’s a theme that runs through all of them related to wealth and poverty and our response.
 
Let’s jump right into it.

• November 3: Luke 16:19-31, Rich Man and Lazarus 
  
  
  • Jesus tells the story of a poor man named Lazarus, who begged at the door of an unnamed rich man. The wealthy man ignored Lazarus. The story jumps ahead to when both men have departed this life--the rich man to Hades and Lazarus to the bosom of Abraham. The wealthy man sees that Lazarus has the better outcome, but it's too late for the rich man to change his self-indulgent ways.
  • Here's an excerpt from the introduction to St. John Chrysostom’s homilies compiled in On Wealth and Poverty (page 12): "The parable passes over the moral qualities of the two men, so St. John must discuss what is wrong with the life of luxury and what is good about the life of poverty. Are all the rich condemned and all the poor saved? No, although the poor have a better chance. The rich man's chief fault was his failure to give alms; he neglected his duty of helping his neighbor. In addition, he harmed his own spiritual health by his self-indulgent way of life."
    

• November 10: Luke 10:25-37, Good Samaritan 
  
  
  • Jesus tells the story of a traveler who was overtaken by thieves, beaten, and left to die. A priest and Levite passed by, but a despised Samaritan stopped to care for the man. He bandaged his wounds, placed him on his donkey, and took him to an inn, paying for his care. Jesus said that we should love our neighbor as ourself, in the same way that the Samaritan cared for the traveler.
  • The hero of the story is someone who never went to the synagogue or temple for religious services. In the terms of this podcast, the Good Samaritan never attended a Divine Liturgy, yet figured out the Second Liturgy better than the religious leaders rushing off to their services. St. John Chrysostom stresses the value of caring for those in need above personal piety: “Lift up and stretch out your hands, not to heaven, but to the poor: for if you stretch forth your hands to the poor, you have reached the summit of heaven, but if you lift up your hands in prayer without sharing with the poor, it is worth nothing.” (Homily on 1 Timothy)
  • This gospel reading and the quote seem to pit worship and service against each other, and maybe that’s the point, the hard truth of what Jesus is saying. But why not strive to do both with diligence and excellence?
  • St. John of Kronstadt says that both are necessary: “Almsgiving is good and salutary when to it is united the amendment of the heart from pride, malice, envy, slothfulness, indolence, gluttony, fornication, falsehood, deceitfulness, and other sins. But if the man is not careful to amend his heart, trusting only to his alms, then he will obtain but little benefit from them, for he builds with one hand and destroys with the other.” (The Handmaiden, Vol. 9, No., 1)  

 

• November 17: Luke 12:16-21, Bigger Barns
  
  
  • Jesus tells the story of a farmer who had a bumper crop. The man planned to tear down his barns and build bigger ones so that he could relax for many years. God said that his soul would be required because he was not rich towards God.  
  • What does this line, describing the man’s demise, mean? “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” What does “rich toward God” look like? What could the man have done with all his excess grain? Certainly there were grain offerings in the Jewish tradition. There were also many commands about sharing the poor and the hungry.
  •  “When you fast and are nourished with abstinence, do not store the leftovers for tomorrow, but, as the Lord became poor and enriched us, feed someone who does not want to be hungry, you who hungers willingly. Then your fast will be like the dove who brings and joyfully proclaims salvation to your soul from the flood.” St. Gregory Palamas (The Festive Fast)
  • This is timely, as this gospel is read right about the beginning of the Nativity Fast in the Orthodox Church and just before Thanksgiving in the U.S. 
  • The following quote is attributed to St. Basil the Great, "The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry person; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to the person who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the person with no shoes; the money which you put in the bank belongs to the poor. You do wrong to everyone you could help, but fail to help."  

 

• November 24: Luke 18:18-27, The Rich Man

 

• A rich man came to Jesus, asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. The man answered that he had kept all the commandments. Jesus replied that the one thing the man lacked was to sell all that he had and distribute it to the poor. In this way, the man would have treasure in heaven. The man went away sad, because he was not ready to part with his wealth.
• How badly do we want to inherit eternal life and perfection? St. Cosmas of Aetolia, describes levels of perfection, starting at the top and working down. 

​“If you want perfect love, go sell all your belongings, give them as charity and go where you find a master and sell yourself as a slave. Can you do this and be perfect? Seems heavy…”

“You cannot do this? Do something else. Don’t sell yourself as slave. Just sell your belongings. Give them all as charity. Can you do it? Still it looks heavy…”

“Let’s go further on. You cannot give all your belongings. Give half. Give one of the three. Give one of five. Even this looks heavy.”

“Do something else. Give one out of ten. Can you do it? It still looks heavy.”

“Do something else. Don’t give charity. Don’t sell yourself as slave. Let’s move further on; don’t take your brother’s coat, don’t take his bread. Don’t persecute him; don’t eat him with your tongue. Can you not do this either?”

“Let us go even further: You found your brother in the mud and do not want to get him out. OK, you don’t want to do him good. DON’T HARM HIM. Leave him there.”
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“How do we want to be saved, brothers, if one looks heavy and the other looks heavy? Where shall we go further down? We have no place even to descend. God is merciful. Yes, but he is also fair. And he has an iron rod.”

Notice that all four of November's Sunday gospels are written by St. Luke. As a doctor, he likely had the opportunity to be wealthy. And as a doctor, he also had the opportunity to spend time with suffering people, likely including those who, like the impoverished woman with the issue of blood, had spent all they had on doctors. Maybe that’s why he wrote about the rich and poor. Even so, the Church Fathers who compiled the lectionary could have chosen different gospels for these Sundays. Nothing is by chance in Orthodoxy, so there must have been a good reason to pick these related gospels.... What do you think?
 
So, here’s our assignment for the next four Sundays:

1. Let’s listen, really listen, to the gospel readings and the message for us today. As it says at the end of the Bigger Barns gospel, “Him who has ears to hear, let him hear,” and at the end of the Good Samaritan gospel, “Go and do likewise.” If it seems impossible for us to obey these hard messages, it is. But let’s take heart. At the end of the Rich Man gospel, Jesus says, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
2. Let’s also think about the implications for the second liturgy.  The final Amen of the Divine Liturgy is just the beginning of whether or not we believe what we’ve just sung, prayed, and heard.
3. After each of these four Divine Liturgies in which we hear these gospels, let’s talk with others about what is the one take-away from each. We’ve heard it, but so what? Did we make any changes in our lives after hearing those same gospels last year and the year before and the year before?