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Midweek Lenten 1 – March 12^th, 2025 Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas Rev. Joshua Woelmer Text: Matthew 26:1–16 “Greed and Generosity” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The vice that we will be looking at today is Greed. Although it does not play much of a role in the events that happen on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, it certainly plays a huge role in the lead-up to Jesus’s arrest. After all, if you asked most Christians to name as many disciples as they could, you’d probably get Peter, James, John, and Matthew at least, maybe also Thomas or one of the others. But right up there is the infamous one, the one who betrayed our Lord, Judas Iscariot. He sold our Lord out for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. We have an account from Matthew 26 and its parallel John 12 that gives us a picture of his heart, which is important as we begin to look at greed in our own hearts. The account begins with a very beautiful gesture by one of Jesus’ followers. At the house of Simon Peter, a woman comes up to Jesus and anoints Him with a very expensive perfume. But rather than praising this act of worship and devotion, the disciples scold the woman: “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor” (8–9). It’s as if they say, “That perfume was worth a fortune, and now it’s all used up—the whole thing on Jesus’s head! Think of all the money we could have given to the poor had we sold that!” Now I know what you are thinking—you are probably thinking: this is the farthest thing from greed! The disciples wanted to use the money to be generous to those in need! But, this same event is recorded by the Apostle John, in his own Gospel, and we learn the true nature of the disciples’ dismay. It seems our old friend Judas was driving the response. In John 12 we read that it was Judas who spoke up, saying “Why was this ointment not sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” (12:5). Now, to be clear, this is no small sum of money, it’s equivalent to around a year’s worth of wages. On the surface it seems that Judas makes a valid point. But John quickly tells us that the reason Judas said this was not because he cared about the poor, but “because he was a thief, and, having charge of the moneybag, he used to help himself to what was put into it” (6). It was Judas’s greed that caused him to despise the use of something valuable to worship Jesus. We usually think of greed in terms of just wanting to accumulate more and more stuff, whether money in our bank account or possessions in our home. And make no mistake about it, that is the heart of greed: it is a disordered desire for money or the things money can buy. But, there are many different faces of greed. Greed can look like an overflowing shopping cart of a bunch of small items, or it can be seen in a single purchase. An aggressive stock portfolio is a potential sign of greed, but then again, so is a conservative one. Maxed out credit cards, and maxed out savings accounts. Locked away and horded prized possessions or garages and homes full of “good deals.” All of these can be signs of greed. How might we see greed active in church? Well, it could be seen in buying the most inexpensive things possible in a renovation project. It might come off as frugality, but it may also be greed. Do you go with the cheapest stuff possible only because the money saved could be spent in more pressing needs for the kingdom of God, like feeding the poor? It masquerades as prudence, but more likely, it’s greed. Have you ever considered the enormously beautiful churches that were built in Europe or even America long ago? They were made of marble or stone or bricks and had tall steeples, with lavish woodwork and ornate stained-glass windows. Ours is one of those churches, as compared with many church buildings built nowadays. It seems like many churches build a structure that looks more like a pole barn than it does a place of worship. But, why waste the money? the parishioners reason. Secretly they think they are better off if the money is left in their own pockets, for their own purposes—rather than building a church that is beautiful inside and out. Long forgotten, it seems, are Jesus’s words back to the disciples and to Judas: “Why do you trouble this woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me” (Matt 26:10). It is good to create beautiful churches to the glory of God. Moving to more personal aspects of greed, Martin Luther said that greed always has an attractive cover to hide its true purpose. You might reason, I can’t give that much to church, I need that money to take care of my family, to take care of my obligations (LW 44:107). Here, we begin to expose this vice as just another form of idolatry, like all the others. Greed is evidence we trust in the provision we can secure for ourselves in the world more than we trust God to provide for all our needs of body and soul. In fact, alongside pride, greed is often considered a chief vice, as Paul once called it: “the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10). Last week we talked about the “desires of the flesh,” and this week it’s the “desires of the eyes” (1 John 2:16)—the things we want to have, and possess, thinking that these things will provide us true security. Luther once remarked that greed was so prevalent in his day that it was futile to preach against it (LW 24:162). In America today, it is no different. Our attitude is summed up by three words shouted by Gordon Gecko in the popular movie Wall Street: “Greed is good!” However, three of the ten commandments are meant to guard us against the danger of greed. The seventh prohibits taking what is not ours, and the ninth and tenth remind us that it’s not even ok to desire what others have. It has been noted that Jesus talks more about money and possessions than any other topic, culminating with these words that highlight the great danger greed poses to every soul: “Watch out,” He says, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15). In another place he asks, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Mark 8:36). Greed is dangerous! We have to ask ourselves: why do we always want more? It certainly can’t be because we think it would be good for our faith! After all, Jesus said it’d be easier to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:24). The truth is, anything we accumulate here is left here when our Lord calls us home. Jesus told a parable about a man who kept building bigger and bigger barns (Luke 12:18). Jesus called him a fool and said his life would be demanded from him that very night. And here’s another thing about money and stuff. Although it glitters, it never satisfies. It’s just a false god we’ve put our hope in. But the ancients knew well this truth about our stuff: the more we have, the more we want. We think, “oh, if I just made this salary,” I’d be content. Or, “oh, if I could just live in a house like that, I’d have everything I’d ever wanted.” Or, “if I could just drive that kind of car…” But, most of you have probably experienced this, when you do reach that salary, or move into that new home, or drive that new car, you still aren’t satisfied. Greed can never be satisfied. The way to extinguish the fire of our greed is never to throw more stuff onto the fire—it’s to put out the fire of greed out altogether. It’s to learn to be content with whatever we have, right now, today. But how exactly do we do that, you might wonder? How do I kill the insatiable greed that wells up in my heart? In part, you can’t ever fully destroy the original sin within, the sinful heart that doubts God’s goodness and seeks security in wealth. That old Adam in us isn’t fully put to death until we die. But, in the meantime, we can loosen the grip greed has on our hearts by one way, and one way only—by giving what we do have away. Generosity is the virtue, the new habit we develop, that drives the vice of greed from our hearts. It works like this: we intentionally give away some of what we have, perhaps more than we think we can afford to give. We should abound in generosity; and then what we realize is that we still have enough left over to provide for ourselves. Amazingly, we realize that we need not put our trust in the size of our bank accounts. Freely we have received from the Lord, and freely we give. We recognize that it is the Lord who ultimately provides. It is the Lord who ultimately can take away. No matter how much we would try to secure our future through our investment portfolio, God could make that all disappear with the snap of His fingers. Then, all we’d have is Him to rely on. But here’s the truth: the only thing we ever have to rely on is our God. All the stuff we do have, it’s all from Him anyways! I know giving can be scary at first. If I give some of what I have away, will there be enough left for me? When you consider giving, be reminded of the example of Jesus, who gave more than 10%. He didn’t merely atone for some of the world’s sins—that which he thought He could afford. No, He gave all. Consider Him who was rich, yet “for your sake became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). Everything you have is merely a gift of God, which you are entrusted to manage for a while. In the meantime the Lord gives His very life to give you a retirement plan far greater than anything the world would ever promise, earned not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death. Do you trust for the Lord your God, the Creator of heaven and earth and all therein—do you trust the He can provide for all your needs of body and soul? If so, then give, give that your heart might be increasingly freed from the bonds of greed, give that you might spare your own soul and serve your neighbor in need. Give, because your Lord and Savior gives everything, that you might live. Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen. 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Midweek Lenten 1 – March 12^th, 2025

Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas

Rev. Joshua Woelmer

Text: Matthew 26:1–16

“Greed and Generosity”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The vice that we will be looking at today is Greed. Although it does not play much of a role in the events that happen on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, it certainly plays a huge role in the lead-up to Jesus’s arrest. After all, if you asked most Christians to name as many disciples as they could, you’d probably get Peter, James, John, and Matthew at least, maybe also Thomas or one of the others. But right up there is the infamous one, the one who betrayed our Lord, Judas Iscariot. He sold our Lord out for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. We have an account from Matthew 26 and its parallel John 12 that gives us a picture of his heart, which is important as we begin to look at greed in our own hearts.

The account begins with a very beautiful gesture by one of Jesus’ followers. At the house of Simon Peter, a woman comes up to Jesus and anoints Him with a very expensive perfume. But rather than praising this act of worship and devotion, the disciples scold the woman: “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor” (8–9). It’s as if they say, “That perfume was worth a fortune, and now it’s all used up—the whole thing on Jesus’s head! Think of all the money we could have given to the poor had we sold that!”

Now I know what you are thinking—you are probably thinking: this is the farthest thing from greed! The disciples wanted to use the money to be generous to those in need! But, this same event is recorded by the Apostle John, in his own Gospel, and we learn the true nature of the disciples’ dismay. It seems our old friend Judas was driving the response. In John 12 we read that it was Judas who spoke up, saying “Why was this ointment not sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” (12:5).

Now, to be clear, this is no small sum of money, it’s equivalent to around a year’s worth of wages. On the surface it seems that Judas makes a valid point. But John quickly tells us that the reason Judas said this was not because he cared about the poor, but “because he was a thief, and, having charge of the moneybag, he used to help himself to what was put into it” (6). It was Judas’s greed that caused him to despise the use of something valuable to worship Jesus.

We usually think of greed in terms of just wanting to accumulate more and more stuff, whether money in our bank account or possessions in our home. And make no mistake about it, that is the heart of greed: it is a disordered desire for money or the things money can buy. But, there are many different faces of greed. Greed can look like an overflowing shopping cart of a bunch of small items, or it can be seen in a single purchase. An aggressive stock portfolio is a potential sign of greed, but then again, so is a conservative one. Maxed out credit cards, and maxed out savings accounts. Locked away and horded prized possessions or garages and homes full of “good deals.” All of these can be signs of greed.

How might we see greed active in church? Well, it could be seen in buying the most inexpensive things possible in a renovation project. It might come off as frugality, but it may also be greed. Do you go with the cheapest stuff possible only because the money saved could be spent in more pressing needs for the kingdom of God, like feeding the poor? It masquerades as prudence, but more likely, it’s greed.

Have you ever considered the enormously beautiful churches that were built in Europe or even America long ago? They were made of marble or stone or bricks and had tall steeples, with lavish woodwork and ornate stained-glass windows. Ours is one of those churches, as compared with many church buildings built nowadays. It seems like many churches build a structure that looks more like a pole barn than it does a place of worship. But, why waste the money? the parishioners reason. Secretly they think they are better off if the money is left in their own pockets, for their own purposes—rather than building a church that is beautiful inside and out. Long forgotten, it seems, are Jesus’s words back to the disciples and to Judas: “Why do you trouble this woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me” (Matt 26:10). It is good to create beautiful churches to the glory of God.

Moving to more personal aspects of greed, Martin Luther said that greed always has an attractive cover to hide its true purpose. You might reason, I can’t give that much to church, I need that money to take care of my family, to take care of my obligations (LW 44:107). Here, we begin to expose this vice as just another form of idolatry, like all the others. Greed is evidence we trust in the provision we can secure for ourselves in the world more than we trust God to provide for all our needs of body and soul. In fact, alongside pride, greed is often considered a chief vice, as Paul once called it: “the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10).

Last week we talked about the “desires of the flesh,” and this week it’s the “desires of the eyes” (1 John 2:16)—the things we want to have, and possess, thinking that these things will provide us true security. Luther once remarked that greed was so prevalent in his day that it was futile to preach against it (LW 24:162). In America today, it is no different. Our attitude is summed up by three words shouted by Gordon Gecko in the popular movie Wall Street: “Greed is good!” However, three of the ten commandments are meant to guard us against the danger of greed. The seventh prohibits taking what is not ours, and the ninth and tenth remind us that it’s not even ok to desire what others have. It has been noted that Jesus talks more about money and possessions than any other topic, culminating with these words that highlight the great danger greed poses to every soul: “Watch out,” He says, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15). In another place he asks, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Mark 8:36). Greed is dangerous!

We have to ask ourselves: why do we always want more? It certainly can’t be because we think it would be good for our faith! After all, Jesus said it’d be easier to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:24). The truth is, anything we accumulate here is left here when our Lord calls us home. Jesus told a parable about a man who kept building bigger and bigger barns (Luke 12:18). Jesus called him a fool and said his life would be demanded from him that very night.

And here’s another thing about money and stuff. Although it glitters, it never satisfies. It’s just a false god we’ve put our hope in. But the ancients knew well this truth about our stuff: the more we have, the more we want. We think, “oh, if I just made this salary,” I’d be content. Or, “oh, if I could just live in a house like that, I’d have everything I’d ever wanted.” Or, “if I could just drive that kind of car…” But, most of you have probably experienced this, when you do reach that salary, or move into that new home, or drive that new car, you still aren’t satisfied. Greed can never be satisfied. The way to extinguish the fire of our greed is never to throw more stuff onto the fire—it’s to put out the fire of greed out altogether. It’s to learn to be content with whatever we have, right now, today.

But how exactly do we do that, you might wonder? How do I kill the insatiable greed that wells up in my heart? In part, you can’t ever fully destroy the original sin within, the sinful heart that doubts God’s goodness and seeks security in wealth. That old Adam in us isn’t fully put to death until we die. But, in the meantime, we can loosen the grip greed has on our hearts by one way, and one way only—by giving what we do have away.

Generosity is the virtue, the new habit we develop, that drives the vice of greed from our hearts. It works like this: we intentionally give away some of what we have, perhaps more than we think we can afford to give. We should abound in generosity; and then what we realize is that we still have enough left over to provide for ourselves. Amazingly, we realize that we need not put our trust in the size of our bank accounts. Freely we have received from the Lord, and freely we give. We recognize that it is the Lord who ultimately provides. It is the Lord who ultimately can take away. No matter how much we would try to secure our future through our investment portfolio, God could make that all disappear with the snap of His fingers. Then, all we’d have is Him to rely on. But here’s the truth: the only thing we ever have to rely on is our God. All the stuff we do have, it’s all from Him anyways!

I know giving can be scary at first. If I give some of what I have away, will there be enough left for me? When you consider giving, be reminded of the example of Jesus, who gave more than 10%. He didn’t merely atone for some of the world’s sins—that which he thought He could afford. No, He gave all. Consider Him who was rich, yet “for your sake became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). Everything you have is merely a gift of God, which you are entrusted to manage for a while. In the meantime the Lord gives His very life to give you a retirement plan far greater than anything the world would ever promise, earned not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death. Do you trust for the Lord your God, the Creator of heaven and earth and all therein—do you trust the He can provide for all your needs of body and soul? If so, then give, give that your heart might be increasingly freed from the bonds of greed, give that you might spare your own soul and serve your neighbor in need. Give, because your Lord and Savior gives everything, that you might live.

Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

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