And this you do as well: You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand. (Mark 9:23)

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. The name “Malachi” means“my messenger.” The message of the messenger is that God’s people need to clean up their act and reduce the hypocrisy in their lives. The prophet points to the offering time in worship as a symptom of the sinful hypocrisy. The people of God bring sub-standard and skimpy offerings to the altar.

Since we do not typically bring animal sacrifices to God as in Malachi’s day, this may sound weird to us. But if we translate and contextualize a bit, it might be something like this: Malachi might say to folks today, “You bring your offering to the clothes closet, but look what you are bringing. You aren’t bringing new and fresh clothing. You are bringing dirty shoes, worn clothing, and suits that would make one a laughingstock at a job interview. And then you have the audacity to complain that the poor don’t appreciate your lavish generosity.” Ouch!

Or Malachi might say, “You are protesting about how much your church is challenging you to give. You are whining about your high taxes, but you go out to a moderately priced restaurant multiple times each week at the drop of the hat. Stop your complaining and do the right and generous thing. Bring to the Lord an honest, whole-hearted, and generous gift, and look what the Lord can do with it!”

Notice that, for Malachi, charitable giving is not just “giving.” It is “offering.” We offer to God what God has first given us. It is both a duty and delight in response to God’s prior generosity.

Let us pray . . . Lord God, help me today to work on the congruence between word and deed. Help me to grow in generosity of heart and wallet.

Contributed by Pastor Dan
Monday October 13, 2014
Liturgical Year A: Week 46
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading: Proper 23
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost