The Sunday School Tithe Mystery

Written by Tom Fowler, Published on 1/2/2009, Re-published on 7/19/2010

The Christian Witness adult Sunday school class met every Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. Class leader, Juliet Lowe, usually taught lessons from Biblical scripture. On this Sunday morning, there were only five members in attendance. This was neither surprising nor disturbing, as she had, through her many years as class leader, taught to as few as one person and as many as 20.

The attendees this morning were all long time class members. Waylon Marsh, a retired school teacher, had attended the Christian Witness class for a little over 25 years, almost as long as Juliet. James and Judy Gant had been in class for 15 years, but had been members of their church for over 30 years. Ellie Wilson, a widow and oldest member of the group, was a charter member of Christian Witness, which was now in its 35th year. Doc Bentson was the newest member, having been with them for only 10 years.

After an opening prayer, Juliet began her lesson. It came from the Gospel of Matthew 6:3-4, which states: “But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your father who sees in secret will reward you.” Juliet also included Old Testament scripture concerning the practice of tithing, citing from Deuteronomy 14:22, “Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field.” As Juliet concluded her lesson, she was pleased, for she had incorporated scripture from both the Old and New Testaments and the class had listened and discussed intently the important concepts of doing good works in secret and tithing 10% of what one earns to the work of the Lord.

Unlike most other Sunday school classes, Christian Witness collected offerings after, not before, the main lesson. Another unwritten rule that Christian Witness observed was that every member would place one dollar in the offering envelope. Juliet was aware that the rest of the church considered the Christian Witness class to be somewhat idiosyncratic and these were a couple of the reasons why. (Another reason was that is was well known that Judy Gant had, for years, made a practice of keeping detailed notes during class and usually filled up several pages). Even so, Juliet liked the tradition of everyone donating a dollar. It kept the group’s modest budget predictable and allowed class members to practice Christian discipline.

Juliet, placing her dollar into the envelope first, did not pay strict attention to the others as the envelope made its way around the table. Though, she did notice Doc place a dollar bill into the envelope. She noticed also that James Gant placed a dollar bill plus change into the envelope for his and Judy’s donation. Today’s offering would be $6.00 and push the class balance to almost $100.00

As Juliet emptied the envelope to confirm the morning’s giving, she noticed something odd. The total was $6.10, including five one-dollar bills, four quarters and one dime. At first, she could not figure out why there was an extra dime. She suspected that James accidentally placed it into the envelope with his change. When questioned, James responded, “The four quarters were the only coins in my pocket.”

Juliet, a former agent of the state Bureau of Investigation, was puzzled. She quickly realized that someone in class had taken her lesson to heart. A 10% tithe on top of a regular offering had been made, and it had been done so in secret. She shared her revelation with the others. Everyone grinned.

“So, Juliet, who paid the secret tithe?” asked Doc.

Juliet replied, “I’m not sure. I need to ask a couple of questions.” Another rule of Christian Witness was that no falsehoods were ever spoken within the classroom walls. She knew she would hear the truth.

First, she asked Judy, “Do you, or did you, have coins in your skirt pocket?”

Judy answered, “No, and, even if I did, I had a pencil in my hand when the envelope was being passed around.”

Turning to Ellie, she asked, “Ellie, do you have your handbag with you?”

“Yes.”

“May I see it?”

Ellie arose from her seat and headed toward the classroom door. She brought her purse back over to the table. “This thing’s heavy and I’m getting old, so I just parked it by the door today,” she announced. She offered it to Juliet, who noticed that it was an old fashioned handbag, somewhat large and obviously full of various items. The snap top was clasped shut. “The only thing I had with me at the table was the dollar for the offering,” Ellie insisted.

Juliet said nothing, but then asked Waylon Marsh, “May I see your wallet?” Waylon complied and removed the wallet from his back pocket. Juliet noticed that it was an expensive wallet, made of rich leather and containing various plastic windows to carry credit cards plus a zipper compartment for concealing large bills. Handing it back, she gave Waylon a compliment. “That’s a very nice wallet, Waylon.” She then asked, “Do you have coins in your pocket?” Waylon replied, “Yes, but only nickels and pennies.”

Pausing for a moment, she continued, “I know who our secret tither is.” *Note: All scripture quoted comes from the New Revised Standard Version Bible.