Christian Mission and Poverty

Chapter 1: Early Christian Teaching

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if they had done something superhuman . . . One, after ridding himself of the burden of wealth, may still have the lust and desire for money inside him and alive; and may have abandoned the use of it, but being at once destitute of and desiring what he spent, may grieve even more both on account of the absence of what he had, and the presence of regret. For it is impossible and inconceivable that those who need the necessities of life shouldn’t be harassed in mind, and hindered from better things in the quest to provide them somehow, and some way. 13. And how much more beneficial is the opposite for a man, who has an ability, both not to be in a tight place himself about money, and also to give assistance to those to whom it is required to give! For if no one had anything, what room would be left among men for giving? And how can this dogma fail to be found plainly opposed to and conflicting with many other excellent teachings of the Lord? Make to yourselves friends of the mammon 2 of unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you into the everlasting dwellings (Luke 16:9). Acquire treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, nor thieves break through (Matt 6:19). How could one give food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless, for which if we don’t do He threatens us with fire and the outer darkness, if each man first got rid of all these things? No, He calls Zacchaeus and Matthew, the rich tax-gathers, to entertain Him with hospitality. And He does not call them to part with their property, but,

2 Mammon – wealth or money