Redistribution with “Half a Heart”? Reflections on Acts 4:34-5:11

By Ched Myers (BCM E-News, Sept 2005, revised Oct 2015)

Over the last 15 years of our Sabbath Economics education at BCM we’ve had a few individuals we worked with decide to divest of considerable personal wealth. To most affluent Christians such acts would seem to represent unwise “extremism” that should be treated suspiciously. Similarly, Acts 4:34-5:11 is a “text of terror” that most of us dodge or dismiss; it is skipped over in the lectionary and routinely ignored in our churches. This is both because of the economic sharing that some in the narrative did participate in, and because of the consequences to those in the story who didn’t. Yet this tale represents a stern warning tale directed to those of us who constantly fudge on the biblical vision of Sabbath Economics—which is all of us—and the myriad ways we rationalize our possessiveness, give with half a heart, and refuse to circulate the gift of material sustenance beyond our private circles.

Full Article HERE