Luke 11:41 But rather give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean to you. In the Revised Version the translation is — "Give for alms those things that are within," and this preserves the point of the saying, which is obscured in the rendering of the Authorized Version. Our Lord had been invited to dinner by a certain Pharisee, and had sat down to meat without the customary ritual ablutions. In the eyes of His host He sat there defiled by His refusal of the outward cleansing; and it was to teach the lesson that purity must be born within the soul and cannot come to it from without, that He spoke these words. I. In ONE SENSE THIS PRECEPT MAKES CHARITY EASIER RATHER THAN MORE DIFFICULT. We do not all possess the things which are without — money, influence, rank, and the patronage they bring with them; and if Christ had made charity to consist in the bestowal of such things He would have made charity an impossible virtue to a large number of His disciples. But when Christ enlarges His definition of charity, when He says almsgiving does not only consist in giving money or giving anything that is external, but in giving the "things that are within," He certainly seems to open this royal road to all who choose to enter it, for lives there the man so poor as to be unable to give a tear, a look, a kindly word, a touch of brotherly sympathy to his fellow-man? II. Yet it needs hut a moment's thought to discover that INSTEAD OF THIS COMMAND MAKING ALMSGIVING EASIER, IT REALLY MAKES IT MORE DIFFICULT. For which is the easier, to give what you may have in your purse to the poor, or to give yourself; to bestow the coin that is hardly missed, or to bestow your thought, sympathy, personal interest on some sad case of misfortune and suffering? 1. Among the "things that are within", we may certainly count the manner in which charity is bestowed. As John Morley remarks, "It is not enough to do good; one must do it in a good way." There is more real value, both to God and man, in a little gift given in a good way, given with willingness, with cheerfulness, with gratitude for the privilege of giving, than in a great gift flung out from a stony heart, like honey out of the rock. 2. But manner is not everything. Sympathy is more than manner; and of all the inner sources of wealth which confer value on our alms, sympathy is the chief. It is one thing to give a sovereign to a a poor widow overwhelmed with trouble; it is another thing to give ourselves, our time, our sympathy, to help to lift her to a happier life, and to make her feel there is one heart that cares for her. A little while ago a poor lost girl lay dying on some filthy straw in a London slum. I know not whether any relief had been sent from the great houses near by, but if it had been given it had not touched her heart or brought hope to that darkened life. One day a Christian lady heard of the dying girl, heard the sad story of her life, and mounting the rickety stairs that led to her miserable room, found her out. She went to her side. Her first act was to stoop down and kiss her. That womanly act — that Christlike act, rather let me say, the pure touching and loving the impure — brought a flood of cleansing tears to that girl's face; that act saved a lost soul. It was giving for alms of the "things that were within." 3. Once again, in illustration of the inner wealth which we are to bestow on others, there is our personal service in the relief of suffering, or the increase of human joy, or the saving of the lost. Neither the manner of almsgiving nor the sympathy of the heart is enough. We must do good as well as be good. From the service of God, as expressed in the service of man, there is no exemption. You may pay a substitute to take your place in the conscriptions of earth; in the war of God against sin and suffering and ignorance, there is no vicarious service. Christ gave Himself for us; and He asks us to give ourselves to Him and to His service on earth. The Church of Christ will never save the world until, following its Divine Lord, it goes out into the dark places of the earth to seek and to save that which is lost. There is no Christian charity worth the name without sacrifice. Its lowest form is the sacrifice of money; its highest is the sacrifice of ourselves — the giving without murmuring or grudging our best for the service of God in the service of man. 4. I cannot omit from the "things that are within," the inner life of Christ which He has imparted to the soul, the gospel of His redeeming love, which has made us what we are. Christ expects you to speak for Him, to be a gospel to those who know Him not. There is a preaching more eloquent than any sermon from the pulpit, and that is the message spoken, not by the minister, but by each individual Christian in his own life in the fitting season. (G. S. Barrett, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. |
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