Share and Rest
In meditating upon these readings for Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time (A) (328), I was struck by two things in particular.
“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have…”
and…
“In verdant pastures he give me repose. Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.” and “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have…”
What do we have? Now, of course, this applies to stewardship of time, talent, and treasure understood as service, skills and abilities, and money. But, I wonder about that. There’s no foundation I can find for this triplet in either scripture or long tradition, and it appears to appear somewhere in the middle of the 19th century. We can read it into various biblical exhortations and accounts, but it is not explicit, and it may be defective. Time and talent, taken this way, seem redundant. This is partially remediated by agreeing that time instead refer to time in prayer, talent to time in service, and treasure to our money. This is broken too, of course… Jesus says that where our treasure is, that is where our hearts will be. He encourages us to build up treasure in heaven. Is time/talent/money really a good model of stewardship? I am not sure, and should study this more. Perhaps prayer, charity, and fasting with almsgiving would be a better way to express the essence of stewardship.
But, the scriptures do clearly exhort us not to neglect to do good and share what we have.
What do we have?
Certainly, we have time, and we have ability, and we have physical goods and capital to some degree. We should use these for good, and share what we have.
But, we also have the life experiences that God has brought us to and/or through, and the virtues God has grown in us through the actual and experienced grace provided to us in those experiences. These, I think, are the heavenly treasures that no thief can break in and steal. No gift is given to us for our own benefit. Rather, they are given to us for the good of the Kingdom of God and the salvation of souls. What has God given to us? How should we share it?
And, then, rest.
Our world is busy, and we are in many regards addicted to business. We fill our time with activity and noise. And yet, God consistently encourages us to recognize that God is the God of peace who desires to lead us to verdant pastures and beside restful waters so that God can give us repose. Our Lord Jesus sees our business and weariness. He sees us milling about and seeking to satisfy our needs in hard and dry places instead of in the green pastures to which he desires to lead us. He encourages us to come away and rest a while.
Consider with me, then, what has God wrought my life? What has God given to and grown in me that I can share with others? Am I filling my life with vanity, or am I intentionally making space to come away and rest a while with Jesus?
