Father Richard Kunst: Getting swindled stinks; don’t do it to God

When I was a young kid, for several summers I caddied at a local country club. It was a pretty inefficient use of time, because I would have to ride my bike for about five miles each way, and then there were many days I would just hang out in the caddy shack with a bunch of other kids waiting for hours to get my turn so I could make a few bucks. Over the years, I must have caddied hundreds of times, and for all those times only one experience really sticks in my mind. 

Father Richard Kunst Apologetics

There were three grades of caddy; B, A, and AA. B caddies were the beginners, and they had the lowest pay grade. A was if you had some experience but were not a pro. If you were a caddy long enough and you got good reviews from the golfers you would reach AA status, and then you were making serious bucks. 

For most of my years down at the club I was simply an A caddy, not bad but not great. The one time I remember so clearly was when I was an average “A” caddy. I was carrying the clubs for a member who was golfing with a few of her friends. At the end of the round, I was fully expecting $10-$12, which was typical pay at the time, but instead she gave me only $6. 

I remember this clearly because I felt so cheated! I had ridden my bike five miles one way, spent several hours waiting in the caddy shack to be called, and then four or five hours carrying her golf clubs, all to be paid six bucks! I knew there was nothing I could do, because I was a snot-nosed kid without any standing at the country club compared to one of the members; it was a feeling of helplessness. 

Poetically, later in life I became this woman’s pastor, and I am happy to say I never once brought it up to her, and now she is with God, so I will never be able to get the $4 I figured I deserved. It is crazy to think that this is the one experience caddying I remember best, and it was because I was cheated. 

There is an inherent injustice we feel when we think we are getting denied what we’re due. We feel it, and it does not feel good. Six dollars for 18 holes, even in the 1980s, was just not right. 

Famed rabbi Abraham Heschel once wrote, “Everything we own, we owe.” That concept is loud and clear in the Jewish prayer known as “The Shema.” In the 12th chapter of Mark’s Gospel a scribe questions Jesus as to what the greatest commandment is. Jesus replied: “This is the first: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! Therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength’” (29-30). Jesus gives the Shema (a Hebrew term meaning “hear”) as the greatest command. Found in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, the Shema has always been the centerpiece and the most essential prayer in all Judaism. In fact, an orthodox Jew will say this prayer several times a day and even has it posted in what is called a Mezuzah on the threshold of their doors. 

Take your time and re-read this prayer and notice the breathtaking nature of the command. Because God made us and everything around us, we owe him everything; all our heart, all our mind, all our strength. Everything we own, we owe! Anything less and we are denying God his due. I got cheated four bucks after a full day’s work back in the 1980s, and I never have forgotten it. What are we cheating God? 

Now, to be fair, we are not all called to be Carthusian monks praying in our cells 23 hours a day, but that is not what God is expecting of us, unless we really are called to that extraordinary vocation. But he is expecting a lot of us (read the Shema again), not to a level where we compromise our vocations as parents or spouses, but still, God does not want to be robbed of his due. 

How much of our daily time do we spend praying? Maybe right before bed or the occasional meal prayer when we think of it? Does that match what God expects of us? Does our financial support for our parish or our volunteer time match anywhere close to what the Shema says? Again, we are not called to be Carthusian monks, but chances are we are called to more than what we are giving. 

The bigger tragedy from my perspective is all the people out there (some in my own family) who don’t seem to give a second’s thought to God. Studies have shown a steep decline of faith among Americans in recent years. Trends like that never end well for a nation or for individuals. In the Old Testament God repeatedly refers to himself as a jealous God. He did not want his chosen people to start ignoring him to worship some other god, and he still doesn’t want us to ignore him. Do we give him his due? 

Pray for your loved ones who don’t pay God any attention in their daily lives, because they need the prayers. Then pray the Shema again. 

Father Richard Kunst is pastor of St. James and St. Elizabeth in Duluth. Reach him at [email protected].