Author:
Robert Wilson
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Date Posted: Tue, Sep 24 2002, 21:15:26
Hi Jeff:
I've read your exchange with Quittner with some interest. Here are my thoughts. First, all Christians did -not- give up all their possessions to "join the club," so to speak. Look at Zaccheus! He says to Jesus, as they are dining at his house, that he is going to repay all that he's taken unfairly and then give a *portion* of his income to the poor. Jesus says, in response, that "salvation" has come to Zaccheus' house. Good enough for Jesus, good enough for me. Zaccheus simply repents for his sins, then makes a generous move to boot. He doesn't join the band of travellers or anything like that. He just repents and Jesus says he laid hold on salvation.
I also see no reason to believe that every time Jesus says "the poor" we are to believe he speaks of himself and the disciples. That would be somewhat bizarre, and I'd need a scripture to show me the relationship between the terms "disciples" and "the poor." Nowhere does the Bible say (and Jesus certainly doesn't say), "Hey, guys, by the way, when I say 'the poor,' I mean my disciples here." I would lean toward the dictionary definition of a term, unless we find some explanatory passage or phrase in the Bible that clearly SAYS, "the Poor = the Disciples."
That said, your question is a good one. How do we make ourselves wise stewards of the resources God has given us? Communal living is an option in scripture, but you don't see everyone participating. Ananias and Sapphira are, for example, totally free to NOT turn over their property, and are only penalized for saying they have turned everything over, when in fact they have kept some. It's the lie, not the withholding, that gets them in trouble. Peter makes that totally clear when he rebukes them.
The key in ordering our finances, I think, is to be reasonable, prayerful, generous, and wise in setting our priorities and budget. We should set our priorities as follows, under God's direction: 1. the Word says he who does not provide for his family "is worse than an infidel," so our family is #1. 2. The Bible says we should provide "especially for those of the household of faith," so our next priority is the church and those in the church who need our assistance. Finally, 3. The world, where we are obligated to give to all the poor in general (and I don't use the term "poor" as does Quittner).
By the way, Quittner, if the disciples didn't have any money, why does it say Judas held the money bag, and was a thief? You can't have a money bag without some money, and you can't have a thief among you unless you've got something to steal. And as far as Jesus being poverty stricken, he wasn't. Joseph was a carpenter. Back then, a "carpenter" isn't somebody that builds cabinets and window frames. Now, being a carpenter in the Fertile Crescent (otherwise known as "a great big desert with very few trees") means you are an artisan, because wood is an imported product for them. It also means you are wealthy, because wood is a very valuable commodity that is difficult to use again if you foul up while carving something. That means Joseph would have had to have enough cash around to be able to not only import expensive woods from far away, he would have to have the financial wherewithal to occasionally eat the loss from a flawed carving. Jesus' family was wealthy, not poor... and there is no evidence he was estranged from his family. After all, he took Mary around with him for awhile at least. If you doubt me, look in the Old Testament passages written in the same region, and count the number of times some sort of wood is referred to as a pricey and extremely valuable item.
Robert
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