WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE GET TO THE TOP OF THE LADDER?
Last week, my blog was about the bottom four rungs of
Maimonides’ charity ladder. We talked about moving from not giving at all (on
the ground) four steps up the ladder to giving to the poor without being asked.
The next
four rungs take us even further
| |
| |
------------ Top Rung **
| |
| |
------------- Giving in a way that both the
donor and recipient don’t know each other.
| |
| |
------------- Giving when the donor is aware
to whom the charity is being given, but the recipient
doesn’t know who has given.
| |
| |
------------- Giving when the recipient is aware of who is giving, but
the donor doesn’t know who the
recipient is.
| |
| |
The bottom four rungs are pretty hard, because it requires
us to start! Once we’ve done that, it gets a little easier. Now we’re moving further
and further up the ladder. The three rungs that I referenced above hinge
completely on whether the donor and recipient know who is giving and who is
getting. For me, whether the donor knows or doesn’t know, or whether the
recipient knows or doesn’t know have the same weight. It’s when both the donor
and the recipient don’t know that things start to become way more generous.
Think of it this way, I am giving to charity without knowing
exactly what it’s going to be used for, or who is going to benefit from it.
This not only takes generosity, but it takes faith. I have to believe that the
charity to whom I’m giving the gift will use those gifts in the way that is
intended and in the way that God intends. When I have faith in God, I can be
generous. Because, after all, it’s not mine anyway, right?
Well, that top rung on the ladder above just says Top Rung**.
Why? I wanted to write exactly what I read relative to this top rung about the
charity ladder. It says it this way:
Helping
sustain people before they come impoverished by offering
a
substantial gift in a dignified manner, or by extending a suitable
loan,
or by helping them find employment or establish themselves
in
business so it is unnecessary for them to become dependent on
others.
This is considered the highest form of charity.
This
is a form of generosity that I think goes beyond “charity.” While it may seem difficult to move from the
ground where we’re not giving anything up the ladder to where we’re giving, it’s
still essentially a pretty easy task to write a check, or drop some coins in a
box or a basket. It’s pretty easy, sometimes, to volunteer our time to a church
or an institution or a project.
But
this top rung of Maimonides’ charity ladder has us doing way more than the
simple writing of a check, or serving a meal. It has us teaching and giving, lending
and leading, enabling and establishing, and helping so that the “recipient”
doesn’t have to become dependent on anyone!
This
sounds a lot like the part of John Wesley’s Manifesto that says we must reduce
the gap between the rich and the poor. How do we do this as a church? Maybe we
have to look at what our own local church is called by God to do and to be.
Once we’ve figured that out, then we are able to step onto and travel up that
ladder to the place where we treat everyone the way we would wish to be
treated!
No comments:
Post a Comment