Why Give 10%?
During stewardship seasons at St. Timothy’s, you may hear the phrase “give 10%” thrown around. Another word for this is tithe, which means tenth. Maybe you think it bold, and perhaps even a little brazen, for the church to ask this of you. Maybe you think the church has no business telling you what to do with your. money. The truth is, we will never know what percent of your income you are giving. This 10% number is not new, nor have the clergy here made up this expectation for this parish only. The tithe has roots in Scripture, in the nation of Israel, and in the early Church.
Genesis 14 is the first instance of a tithe in the Bible when Abram gives a tithe to Melchizedek, the priest and king of Salem. Later on when the Law is given to the Israelites, the tithe became mandatory, and the people are required to give three tithes. The first was the levitical tithe, given to the tribe of Levi who had no inheritance and instead relied on the tithe of the people to continue their priestly work (Numbers 18:21-24). The second tithe was a tithe for festivals and feasts, and was used by families when they went to Jerusalem to celebrate the festivals. It was more or less money set aside for a religious trip to Jerusalem, almost like a pilgrimage! (Deuteronomy 14:22-27) The third tithe was the tithe of the poor and was given every third year for all of the poor and needy (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).
All three of these tithes (tenths) were concerned with the first fruits of the riches. For many Israelites, their “fruits” were exactly that, food. If they were engaged in other jobs, their fruits took the form of money or other signs of wealth. When Jesus comes along in the New Testament, he recognizes that the tithe is not a mandatory rule to follow anymore, but continues to stress its importance an invitation to grow spiritually and cultivate virtues. In fact, he reprimands the Pharisees for tithing without also having the inner virtues to match the outward generosity (Matthew 23:23). Jesus invites us to not just tithe, but tithe cheerfully with a heart full of virtue. These all go hand in hand.
In the early church, the tithe was encouraged but not required. In this freedom to give or not give, we are encouraged to discover virtue through our choices. Our money has potential. It has power. It will either be used for virtuous things or it will be squandered. The practice of tithing connects us to a relationship with money established in Scripture and cultivates virtues such as generosity, contentment, and temperance.
—Fr. Luke
