U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT carried a survey last spring about Heaven. This was before the deaths of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana. The survey discovered that 87% of Americans believe they, themselves, are likely to go to heaven. Only 79% believed Mother Teresa would. Sixtysix percent believe Oprah will. Sixtyfive percent believe Michael Jordan will. Sixtyone percent believe Colin Powell will. Sixty percent believed Princess Di would. Fiftyfive percent believe Al Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton will. Fiftytwo percent believe President Clinton will. Only 47% believe TV evangelist Pat Robertson will. (1) "Heaven," Mark Twain once said, "goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out, and your dog would go in."
One of the most successful musicals of the past decade has been Andrew Lloyd Webber's LES MISERABLES, based on the book of the same name by Victor Hugo. The main character of LES MISERABLES is Jean Valjean. Orphaned as a boy, Valjean reaches his teens only to take on the responsibility of caring for his widowed sister and her seven children. All his work couldn't pull his sister and her family out of poverty, and so one day a desperate Valjean steals a loaf of bread from a baker's shop, to keep the children from starving. He is soon arrested and thrown in jail, where his young heart becomes hardened with anger and hatred. After spending half his life in prison, Valjean is released to a world that doesn't want him. His criminal past causes him to be rejected and ostracized everywhere he goes. Finally, he stumbles on the house of a kindly bishop. The bishop treats Valjean with kindness, feeding him and allowing him to spend the night at his house. That night, Valjean is restless, still battling the anger and bitterness in his heart. He leaves the house that night, stealing all the bishop's fine silver utensils.
The next day, soldiers come to the bishop's house with Valjean in tow. They have found the silver, and are ready to throw him in jail. But the bishop greets Valjean with gladness and insists that he freely gave him the silver. The soldiers release their trembling prisoner and leave. Valjean, in disbelief, accepts the gift of the silver from the bishop. He cannot understand why this man would tell a lie to save someone like himself. His answer comes when the kindly bishop announces, "Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to the evil, but to good. I have bought your soul for you. I withdrew it from black thoughts and the spirit of hate, and gave it to God." And Jean Valjean leaves the bishop's house a changed man changed by a man who treated him with favor.
Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ˜sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ˜sinners' lend to ˜sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you." (NIV)
THERE IS A GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT IN JESUS' TEACHINGS AND HIS LIFE. Can you not see it? Forgive those who hurt you, give to everyone who asks of you, love those who hate you, be merciful, do not pass judgement.
A woman is brought to Jesus who has been caught in the act of adultery. "Let him who is without sin," says Jesus, "cast the first stone." (John 8:111)
A Pharisee invites Jesus to have dinner with him. A woman who has lived a sinful life invites herself to the Pharisee's house bringing an alabaster jar of perfume. Her tears fall on Jesus' feet. She wipes them with her hair. Then she kisses his feet and pours perfume on them. The Pharisee is offended. "If this man were a prophet, he would know . . . what kind of woman she is." Jesus answered the Pharisee with a parable, "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender." One owed him a great deal; the other, much less. He canceled the debts of both. "Now," he asks, "which of them will love him more?" (Luke 7:3648) The Pharisee was weighing the woman's past; Jesus was weighing her potential. He knew that generosity could heal that which condemnation could not.
A generous spirit. Sometimes we use the word mercy. You can see it in everything Jesus did. His compassion for the sick as well as the sinner. His gentleness with children. Even as he hung on Golgotha's cross, we see his generosity extended to a dying thief. (Luke 23:43)
WE NEED TO KNOW THAT THIS GENEROSITY WAS OUT OF STEP WITH THE WORLD IN WHICH JESUS LIVED. To mercy was a sign of weakness. They admired justice, courage, and discipline. They had no use for compassion, mercy, generosity of spirit. As one of the Roman philosophers said, "Mercy is a disease of the soul." This view was reflected in the culture. For example, their attitude toward slaves. According to Aristotle, slaves were living tools and thus were treated in a very impersonal way. If an owner grew tired of his slaves, he could send them to the arena as an evening meal for the lions. If a slave grew too old to work, he could be disposed of like a broken hammer or a rusty plow. Babies were not treated much better than slaves. If a woman gave birth to a daughter or a crippled son, the father might expose the infant to the elements and allow it to die. As for enemies, the only good one was a dead one. It was unthinkable to have mercy toward an enemy. (2)
Jesus was out of step with the time in which he lived. And he is out of step with our time as well. There is a meanness of spirit that marks many people in our time even many who call themselves Christians. Our attitudes toward the poor, toward the weak, toward the prisoner as well toward the person held captive by sin are totally out of sync with our Master's attitudes toward these same people. And it is sad.
THERE IS HEALING IN GENEROSITY. Jesus told a parable: "A father had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ˜Father, give me my share of the estate . . . ˜" You know the rest of the story. We call it the parable of the prodigal son. We should call it the parable of the compassionate Father, the loving Father, the generous Father.
A BBCTV documentary from the 1970s had as its theme the daily diary of a drug addict. This addict had been chosen by the BBC at random. Two years later a second documentary did a followup of this same addict. The treatment this addict received was so successful that he wanted his longtime friend we'll call him Bob also a hardened addict, to be treated. But Bob did not want to be cured. Bob had a complex family history. His parents divorced while he was only a few years old, and he was handed over to others to bring up, never seeing his father again.
Then, one day, a couple of years later, Bob's father knocked on Bob's door and told him he had been searching for him for over twenty years. He wanted Bob to go home with him. The father was dismayed to find that Bob was a junkie and living in squalor, but he affirmed his invitation to his son, only asking that he try to come off drugs now for his new family's sake. It was the fastest cure of all the patients in that particular program according to Bob's doctor. And, said his doctor, Bob never looked back. (3) There is healing in generosity, compassion, mercy, forgiveness. If his father could not have overlooked his son's condition, Bob would never have made it back home.
GENEROSITY IS THE MARK OF A REDEEMED HEART. That is what Jesus is saying to us. "If you love those who love you," Jesus said, "what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ˜sinners' do that . . ." We think that the difference between the redeemed and the sinner is righteousness. Surprise! The difference between the redeemed and the sinner is mercy, compassion, generosity.
The story is told that one day a beggar by the roadside asked for alms from Alexander the Great as he was passing by. Alexander threw the man several gold coins. A courtier was astonished at Alexander's generosity and commented, "Your Highness, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar's need. Why give him gold?" Alexander responded in royal fashion, "Copper coins would suit the beggar's need, but gold coins suit Alexander's giving." Generosity says more about the giver than about the one who receives. We don't know about the heart of the adulterous woman, we do know Jesus' heart. Generosity is the mark of a redeemed heart.
YOU SEE, THE PERSON WHO KNOWS HE OR SHE HAS BEEN REDEEMED BY THE GENEROSITY OF GOD IS ABLE TO BE GENEROUS TOWARD OTHERS. Jesus told another parable about a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. A servant who owed the king about a million dollars was brought to him. Since the servant was not able to repay such a vast sum, the master ordered that the servant and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before his master. "Be patient with me," he begged, "and I will pay back everything." The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants. This second fellow owed HIM about a hundred dollars. He grabbed his fellow servant and began to choke him. "Pay back what you owe me!" he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, "Be patient with me, and I will pay you back." But he refused. Instead, he had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. "You wicked servant," he said, "I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" And the answer, of course, is yes. He should forgive as he had been forgiven. And that is where you and I are today. "Heaven," as Mark Twain said, "goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out, and your dog would go in."
A few years ago the small town of Palm Bay, Florida, experienced a deep community trauma. A crazed alcoholic filled his pockets with highpowered ammunition. Then, taking a semiautomatic rifle, he walked into a crowded shopping center and started killing people at random. By the time he was finally chased into a grocery store (where he held a young woman hostage for several hours before the police persuaded him to give up), he had killed six people and wounded a dozen more some seriously.
Emotions ran high. One of the ladies killed was a sixty-eight-year-old saint who worked in a church nursery. People were confused. What role did justice play in this kind of situation? Forgiveness? Each person had to arrive at his own conclusion. But Sandy Thompson, the daughter of the slain woman, made a deliberate decision not to hate.
"If I hate him," she told her pastor, "I am also a murderer." She said, "Jesus said, ˜Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.' (Matt. 5:2122). He also said: ˜You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.' (Matt. 5:4344) Therefore," said Sandy Thompson, "I have no choice but to love and forgive the man who murdered my mother." (4)
Could you do that? You could if you realize that you have been forgiven by a generous God. There is healing in generosity of spirit. Generosity is the mark of the redeemed. The person who knows he or she has been redeemed by the generosity of God is able to be generous with others.
1. 33197, p. 18, "Washington Whispers," Contributed by Dr. John Bardsley.
2. Haddon W. Robinson, WHAT JESUS SAID (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers, 1991).
3. George & Meg Patterson, THE POWER FACTOR (England: Word Publishing, 1986).
4. Jamie Buckingham, PARABLES (Milton Keynes, England: Word Publishing, 1991), p. 39.