I believe that if Jesus literally meant for every follower of His to give all of their belongings away, then the Church would teach that. But it doesnt. Why? Is the Church ignoring Jesus? No, because Jesus didn’t teach that. The Church has consistently taught that owning possessions is not a sin. (Letting them have possession over you is another matter…that is wrong. We are called to be good stewards of our possessions and moderate our attachment to temporal goods. CC 2407) If poverty was a necessary, vital piece for salvation, the Church would be teaching it. The Popes would be writing about it, the priests would be bellowing from the pulpits. But they don’t, because we can follow Jesus without leaving all of our possessions behind. We acknowledge that all we have comes from Him, and pray for wisdom, discernment, and temperance as we use our resources.
Like all of Scripture, you can’t take a few verses out of context. Jesus’ teaching seems plain at first reading, but it needs to be balanced against all the other verses that clearly show that many other followers of His kept their possessions, often using them to provide for others.
In the early Church, those small, close-knit communities were able to keep their possessions in common and it worked for them, for a time, especially while they were under persecution. But many devout early Christians were rich or had possessions and they were not wrong. Nowadays, it is rare to see that type of early Christian cooperation except in religious communities because it just isn’t practical. Some people are called to a higher perfection of ridding themselves of all material possessions and devoting themselves to God alone, but most people have a family and this is not practical, and in fact it would be sinful to give up all and leave our families desitute. Giving up all is a higher calling and it is worthy of respect, but it doesn’t mean that the average Joe is thus made wrong because something else is better. (Kinda like the arguments about celibacy and marriage.) And of course, Joe is going to be held accountable for his actions and what kind of a steward he was with what he was given.
One of the reasons that I converted to the Church was because She has the final authority. I can trust that She is teaching the truth. I no longer need to wrestle with Scripture and try to figure out the meaning on my own…there are 2,000 years of Church Fathers who have figured it for me. I have a Catechism with the answers. I can rest in that authority and have Faith in God and His Church. If the Church hasn’t declared it a sin in 2,000 years, then I think we are safe. Does that mean we can hoard money for ourselves and ignore the poor? Of course not! But that’s an issue for another thread.
Anyway, I’m going to trust the Church on this one. Peace.
