Acts 4.32-35 Now
the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one
claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was
held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was
not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them
and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet,
and it was distributed to each as any had need (NRSV).
I think
one of the most difficult lessons for us to learn, especially as children, is
to share. Much of preschool and even
kindergarten is focused on the lesson of sharing. Whether it is genetic or a product of our
environment there is something deep within us that makes it hard for us to
share. It is counter intuitive. I am no different. As a child, I hated sharing my toys with my
younger brother, and not just because things would come back in worse shape
than when borrowed. There was a fear
that if he was playing with my toys, then I was missing out. Never mind that I wasn’t using them at the
time or even planning using them at the time.
There is something about our human nature that makes it hard for us to
share.
Even as
adults it is often hard for us to share.
That same fear we had of sharing as children still holds us. But it doesn’t have to control us. I can honestly say I have no problem sharing
my things with my wife, Kim. I trust her
and I am more than willing to share my things with her openly and freely. While my willingness to share with Kim, might
make me sound (self) righteous, or look a little bit better than others, the
reality is I know Kim wants nothing to do with most of my stuff. It just doesn’t interest her, and she would have
no need or desire to borrow my stuff. It
is incredibly easy to share your stuff with others, when you know they want
nothing to do with it. Whether as
children or adults we just don’t like sharing.
It goes against our nature. Even
at a societal level we don’t like sharing.
Maybe
that is why this passage from Acts makes us more than just a little bit
uncomfortable. If it is of any consolation,
we are not the only ones who are uncomfortable.
Many, throughout the history of Christianity, have tried to dismiss this
passage from Acts; stating it is either an idealize fantasy that never happened
or was tried early on but failed quickly.
As nice as it might be to dismiss this passage, neither of these options
are valid. We have recovered a number of
early Christian texts from outside the Bible that show the Christian community
continuing to share all possessions a century or more after Acts was
written. Which leaves us with the question
of why. Why did the early Christian community think it necessary to share their
possessions and distribute them according to need?
The
simple answer to this question is that those early Christians believed it was a
part of their calling and identity as Christians. They believed that Christians were called to
follow Jesus, and, at least in part, the church is meant to be a reflection of
God’s reign. Central to God’s reign is
that everyone has enough, so that there is “not a needy person among them.”
(Acts appropriated this idea from Deuteronomy 15.4 and the Creations
stories). Unfortunately, when people
look at the church they see an institution that looks less like a reflection,
even dimly, of God’s reign and more like a reflection of the society around
them. We Christians, on the whole, are
just as unwilling to share, just as unwilling to make sure none among us has
need as the rest of society. Now there
is no difference between church and society.
So may
be this text from Acts makes us uncomfortable, but that might be a good
thing. Being uncomfortable reminds us of
what the church should be a reflection of God’s reign, even if only dimly. Being uncomfortable also reminds us that God’s
reign, often times, comes in very things that makes us uncomfortable.
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