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But Jesus never Tithed!
Leonard Skaria
Vol 2/ No.1/Feb 2001

A tenth said the law, but we never saw him keep it. A tenth said the LORD but we never saw him obey it (Lev 27:30-33). Why did the one who gave the commandment not tithe? Yet, there He would sit, opposite the temple treasury, deriding the wealthy who were tossing in their fair share. Or greeting with a contended smile the sacrifice or a poor widow as she willing parts with a copper coin and then another - her last (Mark 12:41-42).

Not that He didn't know what was going on, for He tells his disciples, "They all gave out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on (v. 44)"

The contempt for the rich is perhaps understandable. After all, weren't the giving from their plenty? But the glee the glee when a poor woman has emptied the last of all that she had, in the name of the LORD - how can that be explained away? And if the Lord himself enjoys the thought of someone giving all that is nothing left to give - one has to wonder: Is it very Christ-like?

Do we have a sadist for a savior or is something else?

In the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them (Gen 5:1-2, KJV). The word thunders and waits for our response.

Did you, dear reader, catch a glimpse of Him in her act? Of Him who enjoys the thought of giving all that He has until there is nothing left to give - for us, His Church? Of Him who was perhaps required by law to merely bring in a tithe, but chose to empty the rest of Himself to build up our treasury?

The Lord never tithed. He chose not to give a tenth of Himself when He touched lepers and healed sinners and washed the feet of fishermen.

He chose not to tithe when He spent entire nights on mountaintops in prayer, seeking the counsel of the One who had sent Him (Loke6:12).

He who was with God and who was God chose not to give a tenth as He submerged all of Himself in baptism in the waters of the Jordan under the authority of a weatherworn preacher named John.

And if you were to urn into them, ask two sisters from a town called Bethany, who had just lost their brother, about this Jesus. And they will tell you how he came from miles away to comfort them, to bring them hope and to partake of their sorrow. When a mere tenth of His emotions was perhaps all that was expected, He chose not to tithe: He wept (John 11:35). And when a mere tenth of His power was all that was needed to comfort them, He chose not to tithe: He commanded the dead man to live (John 11:43).

Or watch Him in a zealous rage chasing out the money changers and the profiteers, who had turned His house-the house of prayer - into a haggling marketplace (Mark 11:15-17). Because giving a tenth would have meant going from table to table and asking them- without offending their feelings - to leave.

And in the silence of the Garden of Gethsemane, when drinking a tenth from the cup of the wrath of God wasn't enough, He chose not to tithe. For He knew that He Himself had to empty its bitter contents before it could be filled with the sweetest of mercy and grace for sinners such as you and I.

And if you, dear reader, remember, once, a long time ago He, who was the creator of the entire universe, chose not to give a tenth of Himself when He so patiently learned to wield a hammer and a nail for the first time in His earthly father's workshop.

And He chose not to tithe when - on any and every occasion - He chose to give all the glory and all the honor and all the praise to His heavenly Father who had sent Him.

And in the end, when the skills of his earthly father and the will of His heavenly Father converged upon His submissive body with nails and hammers and a bitter rage atop a wooden cross on an earthly mount called Calvary, he chose not tithe.

He chose to give all that He had for you and me - unworthy sinners - until there was nothing left to give. "It is finished!" He roared (John 19:30). the Lion who chose to become a Lamb. The Lamb who chose not to tithe even to the end.

If at the end of this sentence you were to reinvite Him into your life, please remember that He still does not tithe. And He is still seated across from that treasury, overflowing with the wealth of heaven, watching and waiting to see what you would do. And He still expects you to let go of both of those copper coins that you own. Let Him catch a glimpse of Him in you. Give the King who gave you His all, your all.

He didn't come for a tenth of his flock. Even ninety-nine won't satisfy Him. He will search and search, because the one that is not in the fold still bothers Him. How unworthy we are even to approach Him to ask for even a tenth of what He has done for us. Then again, what if He had chosen to merely tithe?