GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 3:10-11
10 The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 11 He answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
It doesn’t seem as if that was all there was to John’s preaching, but Luke interjects some of the kinds of questions he was asked, from the crowds in general, and then from two groups who were considered socially outcast but were welcomed by both John and Jesus: tax collectors and Gentiles.
This first answer is about sharing with people who are in need. A tunic or chiton (χιτών) was a long shirt worn under the cloak. Even a poor man would have extra undershirts (like T-shirts), but only one ‘cloak’ or toga. Later, Jesus will give a more startling application of this same idea (Luke 6:29). John is saying that if you own a couple of T-shirts and somebody needs one, give him one. He adds on another comment about food: If you have some, give a little to someone who doesn’t.
A lot of grocery stores have a bin for the local food shelf. The store we use even has a free item every week, so that it’s as simple as getting the free item while you shop—there’s a pallet of them near the checkout—and then put it in the food shelf bin as you leave. That’s a carefully crafted, it-couldn’t-be-simpler idea. It’s the least, the very least, we can do. But John isn’t just talking about that.
Do you have spiritual food? Are you clothed with Christ? Are you sharing those things with people who don’t have them? What about the couldn’t-be-simpler, least-we-can-do ideas like sending our own children to Sunday School? It staggers the mind of pastors everywhere that our Sunday Schools aren’t bursting at the seams with our own children. We could agonize over the poor job we do advertising. Should the church have a separate committee to beg moms and dads to share Jesus with their kids? We could spend valuable hours of preaching time trying to convince our own people what a great thing it would be if our children knew about Jesus, but our parents have to be the ones who take responsibility for their own children.
You have the blessing of the gospel. Share it! You won’t run out.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota