Jesus’ challenge to give up everything we have (Luke 14:25-33) must not be taken in isolation from the entire Bible. Jerusalem went too far. They shared everything in common but failed to relieve long term poverty. They are an example of taking Jesus' hyperbolic teaching style more literally than he intended. Jerusalem’s story is of failure to alleviate poverty. When the generous sell everything only the selfish have resources left. Jerusalem church was unprepared for famine and later needed outside help. The grand experiment in sharing all things was a failure. Perhaps they misunderstood Jesus’ words. Perhaps Jesus did not mean to sell everything and so become poor ourselves. Perhaps a middle road, of giving up the use of personal possessions for selfish purposes, and investing resources in some way for sustainable giving makes much better long term sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment