Acts 4:32-35
In
America
, we cherish our Bill of Rights and our tradition of individualism. We are known as the land where individual freedoms are protected, and where personal initiative can take us as far as we dare to go. Recent welfare reform laws emphasize how each family is responsible for itself first and foremost. Society, through its most common united effort (government), will help--but only for a while and in limited ways.
Interestingly, our biblical tradition does not have this emphasis on the supremacy of the individual. The common good is the dominant motif. Examples abound of built-in social mechanisms meant to reduce extremes of wealth and poverty, so that everyone has enough. Jewish tradition required farmers to leave a portion of grain in their fields, so the sojourners might freely pick and eat. Leviticus 25 outlines the concept of jubilee,
Israel
's mechanism for shrinking the gap between the wealthy and the debt-ridden poor, as such disparities were considered unhealthy for the community as a whole.
The early Christians described in Acts 4:32-35 likewise understood that a cohesive, healthy community could only happen when the basic needs of all were met and the dignity of each person respected. Only when the common good was protected could members of a community be "united, heart and soul."
The Bible speaks of the importance of paying workers a fair wage. In Biblical times, many workers were real "day laborers," paid at the end of the day for that day's work. For the poor, then as now living almost literally from hand to mouth, not to receive pay at the end of the day could well mean not eating the next day. Deuteronomy 24:14-15 recorded God's law that poor workers should be paid at the end of the day of labor. Note that this law applied not just to others of the Hebrew family but also to foreign laborers who were there for the work. Note, too, that a violation was labeled as "sin."
The prophet Jeremiah (24:13-17) conveyed God's words of judgment on those who failed to pay their laborers. Even more seriously, this condemnation was of a king, Jehoiakim, who built himself a large palace. He was contrasted with his father, Josiah, who did justice and righteousness, and whose death was mourned by all. Jehoiakim, on the other hand, had failed to pay his workers and had practiced oppression and violence. His death was not mourned and actually led to the deportation of many from
Jerusalem
to
Babylon
(2 Kings 24).
Jesus' parable in Matthew 20:1-16 put a different twist on the question of wages. A man hired laborers early in the morning and agreed to pay them a denarius, a typical day's wage. He returned later in the day, even late in the afternoon, and continued to hire additional help, agreeing to pay them what was fair. When it came time to pass out the paychecks, everyone, including the most recent hires, got a denarius. When the early morning crew complained "We've worked all day and in the burning sun," the owner chastised them. "Haven't I given you what we agreed on? Am I not allowed to be generous with the others, if I so choose?"
By Rev. Denise Cumbee Long, Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill, NC
From commentary in Welfare, Work and Poverty In
North Carolina
, A Bible Study/Action Guide, published by Jubilee, a project of the N.C. Council of Churches, 2000.
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