Infinitum Lent JourneySample

Today we will consider Generosity & Me in the context of Lent.

Welcome to Generosity & Me. Previously, we have considered Jesus & Surrender, Surrender & Me, and Jesus & Generosity.

You’ll remember the three Lenten features—fasting, penitence, and preparation for baptism—roughly correspond with the Infinitum foci of surrender, generosity, and mission, and that we are matching them in our reading plans through the Infinitum Lent Collection. And now, Generosity & Me.

In the last plan, we defined a generous person as “showing a readiness to give more of something, as money or time, than is strictly necessary or expected;”… “showing kindness toward others;”… “Larger or more plentiful than is usual or necessary.”

Our readings in this plan may appear awkward through the lens of penitence and generosity.

But there are spiritual insights for us to gain and apply.

Here is John 13:28 (Voice):

“No one understood Jesus’ instructions to Judas. 29 Because Judas carried the money, some thought he was being instructed to buy the necessary items for the feast or give some money to the poor.”

Corporately, the larger traveling Jesus caravan seems to have had no consistent source of income. Granted, there were some “women (who) played an important role in Jesus’ ministry, using their wealth to provide for him and his other companions.” (Luke 8:3 Voice). Yet, we can infer from these verses that giving money to the poor was not uncommon. It was something of a habit or practice of the caravan. Collectively, they exercised generosity.

It becomes an obvious standard and possible challenge to us in our collective lives. For us, it may be our family or our cell group, or local missional community, or church, but the example of the Jesus caravan is one of default generosity. That is, when they saw the comrade who carried the money heading out, they naturally assumed he was shopping for the feast OR giving some money to the poor.

Of course, such a lifestyle doesn’t preclude major campaigns to raise funds to help build wells for clean water or provide basic necessities for starving people in other parts of the world or medical essentials for those vulnerable to sickness and death. Those are all great, too. It’s just that corporate generosity was part of the DNA of the Jesus caravan.

Is it part of your collective’s DNA yet?