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Be Generous

Generosity is a quality we admire in the lives of our friends, but one that we often don't work very hard at cultivating in ourselves. Often when we think of generosity, we have finances in mind, but for truly generous people, the financial aspect is only part of it. In fact, they are quick to share themselves, however that might be translated in the moment.

Jesus is the model of generosity for us. Ironically, because of His own material poverty, He didn't spread much cash around. I can only think of one situation in which Jesus gave money to anyone and that was when he told Peter to use the coin he would find in the fish's mouth to pay the temple tax for both of them.

At the same time, I don't hesitate to say that Jesus was generous. He gave Himself to people constantly. For the better part of three years, He shared daily life with His twelve principal disciples and a rotating group of hangers on benefitted from His teaching, healing, and feeding miracles. However, the really potent examples of Jesus’ generosity are individual and specific.

Consider the generosity of spirit revealed when Jesus healed the ear of the High Priest's servant when he came to participate in Jesus' arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Whether or not the man was a willing participant, he was there under orders. Even though he was numbered among His enemies, Jesus' compassion triumphed.

On more than one occasion, Jesus touched lepers. This was unthinkable at the time. No one touched lepers. They lived in forced isolation without the comfort of human touch. Matthew 8:2 and 3 tells us that "a leper came and worshipped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.' Immediately his leprosy was cleansed."

Once at a dinner, Jesus was approached by a prostitute who dared, in her misery and contrition to weep on his feet and dry them with her hair and then kissed and massaged them with ointment. Luke 7:39 records: "Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, ‘This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.'" You can bet he wouldn't have let this woman even approach him, let alone touch him.

Lastly, for now, consider Luke 18:15 and 16 where we read that parents brought their babies and little ones to Jesus that He might bless them with His touch. The disciples tried to intervene, sending them away, but Jesus told them to let the children come and added that anyone who hoped to enter the Kingdom of God must come as a little child.

As we seek to be like Jesus, we must be prepared for God to put us in circumstances where the best answer will set us at odds against conventional wisdom and social norms. But consider the impact of acts of generosity on the lives of those to whom we give ourselves. None of those I just mentioned would ever be the same after Jesus generously shared Himself with them. When God brings the social outcasts, the misfits, the marginalized, and the disadvantaged to us, we'll have to choose whether looking like everybody else or being like Jesus is more important.