Ezra 8:26-27 "I weighed out into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels worth a hundred talents, and a hundred talents of gold, twenty bowls of gold worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold."

Ezra is delivering all this wealth to twelve of the priests who had answered his call to return to Jerusalem from Babylon as the Temple is being rebuilt. (Ezra 8:16-19, 24) All of this gold, silver, and bronze is either from King Artaxerxes of Babylon, sent back or being donated in support of Ezra and his request to return home, or it is from the Jews still in exile, who gave Ezra donations to be sent back home. (Ezra 7:14-16)

This wealth was entrusted to Ezra because he was a trustworthy man. King Artaxerxes knew that Ezra was not the kind of person who would abscond with this treasure as, presumably, did the Jews who donated to the cause. Now Ezra is trusting others in the same way. He sets apart twelve of the leading priests and entrusts them with everything, giving them instructions to deliver it all to the chief priests and leaders in Jerusalem. (Ezra 8:28-29). Ezra did not know these men the way Artaxerxes knew Ezra. Ezra had called for Levites to join his journey, and these men and others had answered. So Ezra doesn't trust them because he knows their character, he trusts them because he knows them to be priests; to be holy to the Lord, as the vessels he entrust to them are holy. (Ezra 8:28)

As I am thinking about this, I'm asking myself if I trust the Church and our priests this much. Would I be willing to hand over my entire treasure (all of which has been entrusted to me by God) to the Church, or to priests I don't know that well, trusting that they will do what is best with it? Not that I think I am being called to do this (not right now at least), but if I was, if it was clear to me that I was being asked to give everything to the Church, like the early Christians in Acts, would I trust them to use it rightly? I have to admit that right now, at least, I do not think I would. Maybe this is wrong of me, maybe I am still too attached to things, as I wrote about in Am I Ready to Give Up Everything; or maybe I am rightly sensing that the Church does not always spend her money wisely.

This reading for today is very good for me reflect on. If I am being selfish, or overly attached, I need to change; but if I am rightly seeing a lack of prudence on the Church's part, perhaps I am being called to donate different treasure to her right now, such as my time, effort, and prayer, to help her and her priests to turn back to God's priorities, so that I can and would wholeheartedly trust her with all of my treasure.