Share of Friends and Our Share of Stuff
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold
35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
I’ll just go ahead and say it right now, that this would be a lot easier to do if you thought the end of the world was about to come, right?
The exciting thing is that in all of the scripture, this is the closest anything came to every being a year of Jubilee. It was prescribed by God to release slaves, forgive debt, and give land back to families from which it was bought every 49 years. There is no record of that every happening, unfortunately.
Like when Moses was building the tabernacle and everyone was so excited to give that he had to turn away the donors, here the Church eagerly provides for everyone. We already established that the believers wanted to be togetheras much as they could. They were meeting for prayer and to listen to teaching every day in one another’s houses. They had a place at the temple they would meet also. They didn’t see themselves as a new religion that disregarded the temple. They were just another epoch of the history of YHWH and His people.
I recently borrowed a reciprocating saw from a friend. Another friend is looking to come over and help me use it. I have made this project both of their projects, because they are sharing their tools and time with me. I’m getting texts “Did the saw work alright for you?” and “Can I come help if the rain stops?” The saw and my new fence aren’t the big deal, but these physical things are a symptom of a deeper unifying friendship.
We want to be together, but too often, our stuff isolates us. When we share our stuff, we enjoy that life together that God created in us.
Where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. We might not ever get to Acts 4 level co-ownership, but we can get a taste. Sometimes that taste is enough to believe the things Jesus said about money and things just might be true!
A kid, a fence, and a borrowed saw (the clamps were borrowed too!)