No charge: God is free 

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032618.cfm
IS 42:1-7
JN 12:1-11

My son told me a few days ago that religion’s vocal, indeed institutional, demand for money (as he called it) turns people off. In fact, it keeps them from entering into and actively participating in church. His perceived necessary commitment of paying financial dues as an expectation of religious membership bothered him greatly. I know he was speaking largely of the barker evangelists who hold up their five steps pathway to God’s bosom for 12 easy payments of $49.95. Yet, the notions of either purchasing our holiness or financing God’s attention irked him in any religion. 

This perceived financial barrier to God’s access gave me pause. I said it’s unfortunate that some would imagine church has an entry fee. Both holiness and intimacy matter for divinity meeting humanity. Intimacy and holiness are big deals for God. If we believe that those two things require funding, that would mean religion would best operate as a community of faith under the formula used by Disneyland. Pay one price to get in, another for the rides, credit card access to food, and a special privilege donation to skip the long lines and be pampered. You want fun and memories for a lifetime, and an eternity in heaven? Save, and pay up. At any point does access to God get sped up, elevated, or rewarded by how much one donates? 

Stewardship programs, fundraising appeals, and donation campaigns just went apoplectic. This discussion is not helpful they will say. The steely spines of foundation staffs shiver in their deeply felt timbers. Why would I go and shake the hallowed walls of so many important charity efforts with such a cruel comparison of their work to the shilled consumerism of televangelists and theme parks?

Did I? No. We’re simply getting at the problem of God and funding. I don’t like the idea of separating God from financial matters, as if money is some crass and crude evil, concocted in the pit of hell. I do like the idea of God being free, however. He’s so free, in fact, that he accepts us as we are even if we have a lot of money, or none.

My son can be a generous man, so I suspect his ready rejection of a large number of religious efforts goes beyond some of them acting like wolves in sales pitch beggar clothing. Begging in God’s name does not make God or holiness a commodity. The Almighty is not like costly water that needs to be purified and bottled. Rejection of religion comes from a deeper place than horror at having to keep a checkbook ready.

I believe what bothers my son is the very premise of God. That’s what at stake here. 

Consequently, I prefer to focus upon what God gave us as the basis for our understanding of God. That would be the free scriptures preached and lived by free people. We Christians, whether Catholics, Evangelical, Protestant, or Orthodox take scripture quite seriously because we believe these are holy words. They don’t just reflect a philosophy and story of a specific religious people. They don't require heavily funded research for understanding. They are God communicating to us. They tell us who God is. The authors interacted with God in the intimacy that came freely to them. In turn, the stewards of these words grew in their relationship to God too. Two thousand years of commentary on scripture, more than for any other purpose, exist mostly for free. You can pay for hyperlinked versions, or for embossed copies. But that's just technological aids and artwork. Very good, and beautiful things, but not necessary investments in holiness or closer access to God.

Scriptures record an entire community of folks who lived with God in their midst, revealed in amazing, tactile experiences — burning bushes, miracles, handwriting on walls, and eventually in God incarnated. God wasn’t a weirdly and randomly appearing anomaly. There are, however, those who can make a buck on religion even here. You can pay for relics, tours, and even candles. These things are also ancillary; inspirational and awesome, but not necessary.

God appears and reveals himself as he chooses. The methods and purposes he uses make us ponder, but the revelations do not come as the result of a financially equitable transaction. God reveals himself in scripture, in history, in crowds, and to each one of us outside of the restraints of commerce. I don’t recall any monetary exchange as a necessary part of revelation.

“Avoiding me are you?” he might be heard saying. Then, “Blam!” or through some whisper or vision we recognize he is there. “So, now you know it’s me. Let’s talk.” No hourly fee.

The people of the Old Testament came from both poor and wealthy backgrounds. Their wealth meant nothing to God as a fee, or even as a reward, but God took from them and gave to them as he desired. The issue at stake isn’t the wealth or the land or the positions of power. The issue is God’s relationship to the people. 

We needn’t confuse God with wealth regarding our access to holiness or our access to him. God is Father, Son and Spirit — one entity of divine revealed in three necessary ways, because that’s how God is. There is no charge for that information, but there is a relationship expectation. You can pay money for someone to explain how that works, but you can also get that information from someone else for nothing. The information, though, isn’t the thing. The relationship is the thing. God gathers believers together in order for the information about his relationship to be witnessed and clarified. It’s what believers do, together. Witnessing does have a cost, but it’s not likely to be financial. Revelation has a purpose, the invocation of a relationship. That’s not fee-based either.

If you like to compartmentalize, you can start up or rekindle your relationship with the Father. Or if you are adventurous, talk to the Spirit. If you are an extrovert, say hello to Jesus and watch what happens. Don’t pay a nickel; just begin. Isaiah offers the reality of the Trinity in one package, voicing what the Father told him to say:

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my Spirit …

That’s all three of them — the Father talking about the Son who is filled with his Spirit. Next is what the Father says specifically about how Jesus filled with the Spirit acts as God incarnate (made human). No remuneration or ticket stubs are required to experience Jesus.

He shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

There’s a lot there. Some say that the Father here is just talking about Jesus as a very special man, not actually God. It’s helpful, though, to remember that the verses we just read from Isaiah 41 were replicated later in Isaiah 61. Jesus read the verses from Chapter 61 out loud to his hometown folks at the temple in Nazareth, specifically identifying himself as one with the Father. Listen to the familiarity of Chapter 61 to 41, except in reading these verses Jesus speaks about himself.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed ...

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

All the stuff of religion that some think has too much of a price tag to believe are being conned, as my son has properly noted. God sets up no financial barrier. He’s not concerned about raising money to proclaim liberty, free the oppressed, and to restore sight to the blind. All the financing constructs put together by foundations, appeals, and fund-raisers are what we require to fulfill our missionary work. We buy wood to cut it up and give it to the poor. We buy buildings and planes to house and deliver food and clothing to hand out to refugees and folks shattered by disasters. We fund ministers and largely volunteer efforts to celebrate, educate, pastor and build hospitals and soup kitchens. God helps us with those efforts. It’s not a con to give. It’s a mission. We give because the church heater broke, a couple are going to serve the poor in Haiti and need airfare, and so on.

God will not be stopped by lack of funds, nor compartmentalized into budgetary limitations. Isaiah goes on to reveal the one God in all three persons as the Father explains his intimacy with us and how our holiness will be formed in us:

Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spreads out the earth with its crops,
Who gives breath to its people
and spirit to those who walk on it:
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

Don’t be conned. Just be holy as God shows you. God will let you know what to do with your time, your talent, and that little thing called your treasure. It’s the free intimacy with him that counts more than our talents, our time, or our wealth. None of these should be speed bumps, though, as if God is down some pathway for us to find. We don’t have to work on our talents before addressing him, making sure we are holy enough. We don’t have to get everything else done before sitting down with God, because he’s there always. And we don’t have to save up in order to pay for either our holiness to be shiny for God, or for some high broadband access to him. 

We do need to gather with other believers, though. That’s not just how he wants us, but how our notions of him are confirmed. Other believers who know him will also help us figure out much more than the issue of money. When he speaks through one of us, it's probably for more than just us. When this happens, charging for it is probably more sinful than productive.