26 March

Mother Teresa once gave an interview to Hello!magazine. She was asked the question, ‘Is it only the affluent who give?’

She replied, ‘No, even the poorest of the poor give. The other day a very poor beggar came up to me and said, “Everyone gives to you and I also want to give you twenty paisa” – which is about two pence. I thought to myself, what do I do? If I take it he won’t have anything to eat, but if I don’t take it I would hurt him so much. So I took, and he was so happy because he had given to Mother Teresa of Calcutta to help the poor. Giving cleans the heart and helps you get closer to God. You get so much back in return.’

Generosity is not just a nice character trait that people have. It is right at the heart of what our faith is all about. C.S. Lewis defined Christianity as ‘a kind of giving’. God has poured out his generosity to you in Jesus (John 3:16), and you are called to respond in faith and generosity to others. Each of the passages today is about blessings and curses. The key to blessing is generosity – ‘the righteous give generously’ (Psalm 37:21).

Jesus calls us to be generous towards our enemies: ‘Love your enemies... If someone grabs your shirt, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it... No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously’ (vv.27–29, MSG).

Be generous to everyone; ‘Give to everyone’ (v.30). This is an attitude of generosity, ‘without expecting to get anything back’ (v.35).

As always, Jesus is only calling us to imitate the generosity of God: ‘Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never – I promise – regret it. Live out this God–created identity the way our father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our father is kind; you be kind’ (vv.35–36, MSG).

Generosity towards your enemies means not only to forgive them but also to bless them. You must not speak evil of them even if you think they deserve it. You are to pray for them, bless them and speak well of them. As Nelson Mandela put it, ‘Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies.’ Instead, like God, be generous to everyone (v.36).

God, in his generosity, provides the sacrifice that enables you to know forgiveness. The uplifted snake in Moses’ day brought physical life to those who looked in faith. The uplifted crucified Christ brings eternal life to anyone who looks in faith and believes in him. You cannot earn forgiveness. Eternal life is a free gift, but you still have to choose to accept that gift. Believing is an act of the will that accepts the free gift of God (3:15).

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was one of the greatest and most influential speakers of the nineteenth century. He described his own conversion when, as a teenager, he heard a speaker say, ‘Look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but to look and live.’

‘Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me… When I heard that word, “Look!” what a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away... and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to him.’

This is the generosity of God. Your call to be generous stems from God’s generosity to you. As the apostle Paul writes, ‘Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!’ (2 Corinthians 9:15).