September 21, 2026, as we near the Nativity Season, onslaught of the consumer driven version of Christmas, which is of course, preceded by Halloween and Thanksgiving, also driven by the almighty dollar in hopes of garnering profit for those who seek our business to bolster their personal comfort will commence – yes, the season of giving approaches us.
Neither of the latter hit the margin as much as the former’s capital endeavor that the Incarnation of our Lord has become. What I write, however, is not a treatise against the rich. What I seek to impart on the reader is the human reaction to consumerism that our nous yearns, and how sometimes we can confuse this reaction with a skewed understanding of almsgiving.
Walking into the restroom of a local Christian coffee shop, I am met with the artistic interpretation on the wall entreating us that Christ is in our midst, and I ask myself oddly, why do we have the tendency of pretending that He isn’t?
Let us start with this notion: As much as many Christians seek to impart balance or social justice against our consumerist society by giving to the poor, this too can become nothing other than a superficial enterprise, or even an altruistic cover for the love of money. Essentially, in the process of seeking Christ, we push Him away.
In Matthew 25:40-45, the Lord sets apart those who give alms during the final judgement with His parable that we read every year on the Sunday of Last Judgement during Great Lent, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
It is indeed important to feed and clothe the poor, visit the sick and imprisoned, at the very least, to do good to our fellow man. But is this what the Lord was getting at? No. Why we do these things is not just to be good or to achieve justice. Our goal shouldn’t be to get back at the rich for their supposed greediness, least of all to gain a reputation as the person, or the parish, that is known for their almsgiving. God forbid! No, partaking in almsgiving in this fashion is nothing other than participating in the consumerism that already engulfs our culture. It’s great for a Halmark movie, to virtue signal on the internet or a sermon, or check off a moral box that we believe we must fulfill. But it hasn’t brought us closer to Christ.
St. Nikolai Velimirovic likens giving to the poor as receiving the Lord in Communion, ‘Similar things happen in almsgiving and in Holy Communion. In Holy Communion we receive the Living Lord Christ Himself, in the form of bread and wine; in almsgiving we give to the Living Lord Christ Himself, in the form of the poor and needy.’
We see, brethren, almsgiving is a means to obtain the Lord. We approach almsgiving with the same reverence as we approach the Body and Blood of Christ. Yet another opportunity to empty ourselves through prayer, fasting, and confession because we are approaching Him. In fact, if we are not participating in our Liturgical Life with this sense of reverence and a repentant heart, seeking an even deeper relationship with Christ, we’re not actually living as Christians or giving alms. We’re merely serving ourselves.
No where better is this relayed to us than the Lord correcting His disciples in their short sidedness regarding the need to give alms when the repentant woman approaches Christ with an alabaster flask, And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”
But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.
Christ’s teaching is central here in how we are to manage almsgiving. While His disciples viewed almsgiving as an economic pursuit, a reflex to pinch pennies, a pretext of ending hatred of the poor, the woman, overcome by the presence of Christ, led by the deeper well of her heart, was repentant, seeking to come even closer to the Lord. The yearning for His Grace.
St. Nikolai again enhances this point for us, You will hear this kind of justification from many who pursue riches: “When I become rich, I will be able to perform good works!” Do not believe them, for they deceive both you and themselves. St. John Climacus knew in depth the most secret motives of men’s souls when he said, “The beginning of love of money is the pretext of almsgiving and the end of it is hatred of the poor” (Step 16). This is confirmed by all lovers of money, the rich or the less rich. The average man says, “If only it were that I had money, I would carry out this and that good work!” Do not believe him. Let him not believe himself. Let him look at himself, as in a mirror, at those who have money and who are not willing to do this or that good work. That is how he would be if he acquired some money.
Let us conclude, brethren, that our aim with almsgiving cannot be anything other than our yearning to come closer to Christ in the same manner that we approach Holy Communion during the Divine Liturgy. It must be accompanied with a sense of personal repentance, the understanding of our own spiritual poverty – first and foremost – that we are nothing but beggars of Christ’s grace. Only then can the needy poor spoken of in the Gospels be the Icon of Christ. This is the path to our salvation. That if we can accept the teachings of the Gospel, preserved by the Orthodox Church, conveyed by the saints, we will see that Christ is in our midst. He is closer than we think.
Source: Versification and Wanderings Substack: Deacon Christiopher Purdef, Chairman, Share the Faith Ministries