Give to the One Who Asks of You

I stumbled into mass a little late this morning and missed the readings unfortunately, but when I left the church to go home, there was a homeless guy on the steps with his bicycle waiting for me. He said, "I'm Roosevelt and I just came from Pacific Garden Mission and I was wondering if you could help me out. Last week the priest game me $20 bucks. Whattya say?"

So I looked in my wallet and I knew I had $20, but I also knew I had a lunch appointment today and had to go home to get ready for an 11:00 AM meeting downtown. So I said, "I've got some money on me but I need it for lunch today, can I give you my CTA pass instead?" So I handed him my CTA pass which had $3 on it and he took it, but then he said, "I've got my bike, what do I need a CTA pass for?"I responded by saying, "Well if you don't need the pass, then I'll take it back." To which he responded, "What are you, and Indian giver?"

Life is strange. I think what this guy really needed was a hug to know that he was cared for as a beloved son of God, but the exchange challenged me to think about whether I was really serving his need or being selfish.

In the book of Luke, right after teaching us the Lord's Prayer, Jesus says, "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won't give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he asks for an egg, he won't give him a scorpion, will he?"

The exchange with this homeless man today showed me that both he and I were sinners operating from a belief in the scarcity of the world's resources. Yes, I could/should have been more generous in giving him the $20 he asked for, but when I "gave him a snake instead of a fish," he clung to it as something of value even though it did not serve his need. That's what struck me as I reflected on the incident later in the day. Maybe he used it to barter with someone else for the food he needed?

As I took the El downtown to my meeting, I pulled out the day's mass readings and was convicted as I read the passage from Luke 5:38-42. "Give to the one who asks of you and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow." Wow. Talk about the Holy Spirit hitting you right between the eyes.

The lesson I'll take from this is that I think God wants us to give from our need, not from our want. I wanted to save my money for lunch, but here was a man who needed it and I gave him a snake instead. I don't feel guilty about what I did or didn't do in this situation, but it feels like a teachable moment God was using to open my eyes to his plan, vs. the one I had for today and for the $20 in my pocket.