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Mat. 19:21 (Jesus speaking) "If you want to
be perfect, go, sell what you have and give
TO THE POOR, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
(also Mark
10:21 and Luke 18:22)
Luke 12:33-34 (Jesus speaking) "Sell what you have and
GIVE ALMS [to the poor];
provide yourselves a treasure in heaven... for where your treasure is, there
your heart will
be also." |
What is Jesus saying here? Give to whom? Give TO THE POOR
and you will have a treasure in
heaven! One may say that Jesus contradicts Himself with the statement that
the costly perfume
which Mary used to anoint Him should not be sold and given to the poor, but
rather used to anoint
Him for His burial (Mark 14:3-9). There is no contradiction here: Jesus was
about to be buried on
that particular occasion - and to never be buried again!
Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatian church, recalls
the commission given to him and Barnabas
by the elders and apostles in Jerusalem when they were sent out to preach
to the Gentiles.
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Gal. 2:10 "They desired ONLY that we should remember the
poor, THE VERY THING
which I also was eager to do." |
Would anyone have a guess on where this inspiration might
have come from? My guess is that it
was from God. There was no mention of making sure that they (Paul and Barnabas)
should stay in
the best hotels, use the best mode of transport, get people to build crystal
cathedrals, get them to
give for the "extension of the kingdom" etc... so that "the world can see
that the Christians are the
head, not the tail".
Jesus' parable in Matthew 25 deserves careful consideration.
He talks about two groups of people
being judged: those on the right (the
sheep)were those who took care
of the poor and those on the
left (the goats)were those who
ignored the poor. What happened to those on the left? They were
thrown into the lake of fire! Who were they? The unbelievers
("theworld")? We should consider
it
carefully. Jesus said that the world was already judged, therefore there
is no need for it to come for
the judgment. Consider Matthew 25:44, they (the "goats") said, "Lord, when
did we see You
hungry..?"They addressed Him
as the "Lord". Were they really "the world"?
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Lev. 24:1-2 "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: "Command
the children of Israel that
they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps
burn
continually." |
The above commandment to the Israelites is a clear indication
that God expected them to meet some
running costs of the place of worship. He mentioned oil only. What were the
other expenses? I
cannot think of any except the wood for the fire on the altar of burnt offering.
Offerings
themselves, came from the Israelites as per commandments relating to the
offerings.
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Neh. 10:34 "We cast lots among the priests, the Levites,
and the people, for bringing the
wood offering into the house of our God.." |
We see here how Nehemiah and the elders solved the problem
of the wood supply. It was a matter
of putting in some work required to cut and bring the wood in. All of the
people participated in the
"draw", including the Levites and the priests.
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Neh. 10:32 "Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to
exact from ourselves yearly one-
third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God..." |
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