by Fr. James C. Meena
from The Word, October 1980
A man and his family were going to spend the summer away from their home for about three months. When people are faced with this kind of decision it isn’t uncommon for them to ask someone to house sit. They will ask reliable people who have not set up housekeeping to occupy the house free of charge but with the understanding that they will assume the responsibility for taking care of it for the period of their absence. This couple went away for three months and when they returned, lo and behold, the persons who had been living in their house left it in such disgraceful condition that it took the owners a month to straighten it out and hundreds of dollars to restore it to its previous condition.
It’s a lot like what is happening with us. Christ our Lord came to establish His Church and indeed He did so. He gave us Apostles, Teachers and Fathers. He gave us the Gospel to preach to all men and by which we are to live. He set examples for us and He gave us the responsibility of being caretakers, stewards over His Holy House. It is our responsibility then to uphold the dignity and status of that House in a manner that is befitting its owner. You and I do not own this House, nor indeed do we own anything that is of it. A believing Christian understands that God owns everything and that we own nothing, our houses, cars, TV sets, properties, money, all these things really belong to God. They are given into our custody that we might use them to His glory and to the fulfillment of the mission which He has given to us to manifest to the World. We are God’s “house sitters”, the stewards of His household and of everything that is part of it.
Remember the various parables about stewards that Jesus related. The steward who took good care of his talents heard the Lord say to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of your Lord.” (St. Matthew 25:21) An evil steward who, when his master demanded that he make payment of that which he owed, pleaded with his master to forgive him but when a fellow servant who owed him a paltry amount begged for more time, he demanded payment immediately. His Lord was so angry with his corrupted stewardship that be cast him into prison. (St. Matt. 18:26 ff) You and I are stewards. Believe that or not but if not, stop and think for a minute. Measure all the material things that you have, how much money in the bank, how much in stocks and bonds, how much in your house, how much in real estate. Take all of these things, add them together and add to that everything that you expect them to compound in the days to come. Then tell me if, during the period of your calculations and computations, you have also found a way of taking those things with you from this life. You really own nothing that you can’t take with you into God’s Heavenly Kingdom. Everything that remains here on the earth is of the earth, therefore it belongs to Satan or is consecrated to God. True believers in God commit all to God and endow Him with all these goods because they belong to Him in the first place.
Metropolitan PHILIP is fond of telling this story, especially when he is speaking to those who give little or nothing to the support of the Church: There was a very wealthy man who died. By the thousands people came to the funeral and many approached his attorney asking him, “How much did he leave?” The attorney answered with single-mindedness. “He left it all. Didn’t take a thing with him.”
There are responsibilities of stewardship that are pressed upon us the moment we confess and commit ourselves to Christ. Everything we have is committed to Him also. He came and He gave us everything, even to His death on the cross. Of what equal worth is anything that we have of intrinsic value. It cannot be of equal worth yet it belongs to Him. As Orthodox Christians we have our roots deeply implanted in the laws and the teachings of the Old Testament and those laws claim a tenth of our goods for God. Some will say that this doesn’t apply to us because we never heard it before. Beloved, there are many things that you have not heard before that are part of the life and teachings of the Church. This is one of them and perhaps it is time for us to reassess our concepts of supporting the Church, our attitude toward our own stewardship. If we believe that everything we have belongs to us, that we may do what we wish with it first and from whatever is left over give a token offering to God, that is not stewardship! A responsible Steward gives to God first and then adjusts his standard of living to what is left. He gives to God first knowing that God will not shortchange him. He gives in true faith, knowing that God will bless what remains, just as he blessed the loaves and fishes, and will cause it to be enough for his needs and even for some luxuries as well. A dedicated Steward is unwavering in his belief that God will provide.
Have you ever stopped to think how your forefathers built our churches and maintained them while they were earning two dollars a day? I assure you, they did not do it by giving God a token of what was left. They gave to God first! God made sure that they got it back. A cynic misquoted the Teacher by saying, “cast your bread upon the waters and you’ll get back soggy bread.” The Truth is, if you cast your bread upon the waters in faith it will be returned to you many times over. That is God’s promise, not mine!
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Holy and Great Martyr Demetrius , October 26
Troparion Tone Three
O victorious Demetrius, thou wast a protection for the world and an invincible soldier of Christ. Thou didst inspire Nestor to humble Lyaios. Intercede with Christ our God to save us.
Kontakion Tone Two
God has given thee invincible strength, O Demetrius, and has dyed the Church with thy blood and kept thy city unharmed, for thou art its foundation.
