Monday, May 3, 2010

Give All You Can Give

A few weeks ago we celebrated the March 30 birthday of Vincent Van Gogh, born in Zundert, Holland (1853). Garrison Keillor (The Writer's Almanac for March 30, 2010) told us that,

"As a young man, he was deeply religious and went off to do missionary work in a coal-mining region in Belgium. One day he decided to give away all of his worldly goods and live like a peasant. But his religious superiors thought he was having a nervous breakdown. They kicked him out of the mission and he had to go home."

Wait a minute! He did exactly what Jesus told the rich young man to do: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Matthew 19:21) And so for following Jesus’ teaching, Van Gogh’s “religious superiors” made him leave the mission. Lucky for us who have seen his art, because that’s when he began to paint. Perhaps he was having a nervous breakdown. Still, was being “kicked out of the mission” to be Van Gogh’s “treasure in heaven?”

The online Wikipedia has an interesting discussion of tithing, with several references to the new or old testaments and the Qur’an, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe. Some Christians are taught to tithe, e.g., give 10% (of their wealth, or their income) to the church. Jewish practice has usually included some form of tithing. And the so-called “alms tax” (zakat) is one of the five pillars of Islam. But I’ve only found the “sell all you have” advice in Jesus’ answer to the young man’s question.

John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, is credited with saying, “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” As a young man, I heard the first part of the quote at every turn. Later, as I became an adult, I dimly heard the second part. But it’s much later in my life that I came to hear and understand the third part. Doesn’t this “give all you can” sound like a practical, modern version of Jesus’ teaching?

And now I read Suzanne Herel’s article in the San Francisco CHRONICLE (“Backing Good Causes Provides a Return.” Sunday, April 11, 2010, page D2) about Lily Kanter, age 45, who retired from Microsoft, “a multimillionaire at the age of 35,” who has started a new business. Herel writes, “Lily Kanter makes money so she can give it away.” In fact, her goal is to “be able to give away a million dollars a year.”

So, on the one hand, we have Jesus teaching that we should give it all away, (as Van Gogh did, and look what that got him); and on the other, a millionaire following the advice of John Wesley to make as much as you can (so you can) give as much as you can. Perhaps therein lies a lesson for the curriculum designers at the top MBA schools.