Jesus and the Redistribution of Capital

Andre Trocme

Excerpted from Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution, available FREE in e-book format.

According to the Torah, theyear of Jubilee was to be celebrated every seventh Sabbath of years (seven times seven). Just as the week ended with a day of release called the Sabbath and a week of years ended with a sabbatical year (every seventh year), each period of forty-nine years ended with a Year of Jubilee.

What were the religious principles upon which the Year of Jubilee was based? First, God is the owner of the land. In Leviticus 25:23 we read, The land shall not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. At the time of the Jubilee every tribe repossessed the land it had received when the people of Israel first settled in Canaan. Similarly, each family regained the lands it might have lost in the interval. In this way, even though God was the ultimate owner of the land, he did not operate as a tyrant oppressing his people in slavery. Rather, he acted as a good master, entrusting to his servants the administration of his goods, which he let them enjoy, but whom he would call to account at regular intervals and once again distribute the capital he alone possessed. This redistribution of land prevented the accumulation of capital in the hands of a few.

It seems that the Jubilee and the sabbatical year proved too difficult to apply and were therefore often ignored. In vain the prophets of Israel demanded the restoration of these institutions. In Jesus time, the Jubilee had merely ritual significance. It was limited to celebrating the days, months, and years, according to an orthodox calendar. When Jesus proclaimedgood news to the poor, liberty to the captives, and sight to the blind, his audience knew very well what he meant: now is the time to put into effect the year of Jubilee. He was announcing that a social revolution was underway the messianic reign had begun. For the poor, this was good news. All things would be made right again. For those whose interests were vested in the establishment, however, such news was a threat...

The Gospels clearly indicate that Jesus voluntarily accepted poverty in view of the coming kingdom. He also commanded his disciples to practice the redistribution of their capital. During the time of Jesus, land and flocks were the peoples only wealth, or in todays terminology, capital. Yet Jesus taught, Seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor (Luke 12:3133).

Does this mean that Jesus commanded a blanket redistribution of wealth on the part of all his followers? Or did he mean it to be only a counsel of perfection applicable to a select number of saints at certain times?

Traditionally, the church has chosen the second interpretation, the easy one. Only the person with a particular vocation, such as the monk, is called to abandon all his possessions. The ordinary believer can be content to give alms, that is, to distribute part of his income to the poor.

Such a position would be quite justifiable had Jesus not been so harsh toward those very people who in his own day were complacently satisfied with their almsgiving the Pharisees. They gave one tenth of all their income, no mean accomplishment in light of the taxation requirements of the Romans. But Jesus did not believe that this was enough: Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices mint, dill, and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former (Matt. 23:23). This confirms Jesus radicalism; he did not want to abolish the Law, but fulfill it by exercising justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

What did Jesus mean by these three words? Everything points to the fact that he meant the gratuitous act by which his disciples ceased planning for their own futures and gave away even what they needed for themselves. Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:20).

Consider the following incident. One day, as Jesus was comparing the generosity of the rich, who ostensibly put large gifts into the offering box, and that of a poor widow, Jesus exclaimed, This poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on (Luke 21:14). In other words, it matters little how much one gives. What matters is what one gives. If it is just a part of your income, it isnt justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

This is not to say that Jesus prescribed some kind of socialist communism. If he had done so, he would have left with his disciples either monastic rules similar to those of the Essenes, or some constitutional order to be implemented within a collectivist Jewish state. He did neither of these things. Forced collectivism was contrary to the spirit of the Mosaic Law, not to mention Jesus gospel of the kingdom.

When Jesus commanded, Sell your possessions and give to the poor (a better translation would be, Sell what you possess and practice kind deeds), it was neither a counsel of perfection, nor a constitutional law founding a utopian state. It was rather a joyful announcement to be put into practice here and now as a refreshment foreshadowing the restitution of all things. Give what is inside, as in Luke 11:41.

Such a redistribution of capital every forty-nine years, out of faithfulness to Gods justice and in the hope of the kingdom, need not be utopian, nor forced. Many bloody revolutions might have been avoided had the Christian church alone, with all its holdings, practiced the jubilean ideal.

When interpreted in light of the Jubilee, many of Jesus other teachings fall easily into place. And none of this takes away the spiritual force of Jesus message. For surely when Jesus announced the inauguration of the Jubilee he was also thinking about the salvation of his people. He consistently made a rigorous equation between the Jubilee practiced here on earth and the grace of God. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven (Luke 18:22). Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted (Luke 12:33).9

The redistribution of capital as taught in the above verses could be misconstrued to encourage selfish acts with the aim of securing ones place in heaven. The believer thus rids himself of all his possessions in order to purchase his salvation. In reality, however, compassion for the poor precedes the acquisition of treasure in heaven. What matters primarily to God is the lot of the poor. It is for them that the rich young ruler must sell his possessions; doing so is the treasure. To practice compassion is to reestablish the poor in the condition God willed for everyone.

God will, one day, entirely reestablish the poor, with or without the help of the rich. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. If it does not happen in this life, it will be realized in the next, as expressed in Jesus parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:1931). In the end, those in a precarious situation are not the poor, but the rich who refuse to put the Jubilee into practice. If they dont distribute their capital now, it may be too late tomorrow. Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. A tremendous chasm separates the kingdom of God from the place where the rich like to enjoy themselves in pleasure.

The power of salvation is such that it brings with it acts of liberation. Consider the examples of two people to whom Jesus proposed a jubilean redistribution: Zacchaeus, who accepted, and the rich young ruler, who did not.

The former belonged to the scorned class of publicans and usurers. Zacchaeus had become rich by lending money at usurious rates to the insolvent poor with one hand so that they could pay the government taxes he collected with the other hand. Before meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus had probably already heard rumors about his proclamation of the Jubilee. All the unjust riches he had acquired troubled Zacchaeuss conscience. The story tells us that instead of fleeing from the prophet, he climbed a tree to see him. Jesus called Zacchaeus down because he wanted to stay in his house. Jesus sheer presence compelled Zacchaeus to see that his wealth resulted from robbery. Applying to himself the commandment of Exodus 22:14,10 which tells the robber to return four for the one he stole, Zacchaeus cried out, Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount (Luke 19:110).

By this action Zacchaeus was joining the great movement of jubilean reform undertaken by Jesus. He was practicing what Jesus preached by abolishing his part in the system of exploitation under which the people of Israel were suffering. And so Jesus exclaimed, Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. One could conclude that those who do not practice the Jubilee are excluding themselves from among the sons of Abraham.

Jesus considered the rich who did not redistribute their capital as lost. When referring to the rich young ruler, Jesus said, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! and the disciples cried out, Who then can be saved? Indeed, the rich young ruler had refused to sell his possessions and return them to the poor. He had received the command as the disciples had to put the Jubilee into practice but he had not obeyed. Despite Jesus sympathy for him, he could not be one of his disciples (Luke 18:1830).

The contrast between the bitter sorrow of the rich young ruler and the joy of the apostles, who had responded to Jesus call by leaving behind all that they had, is indeed striking. It was, in fact, after the rich mans departure that Peter exclaimed, We have left all we had to follow you! Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life (Luke 18:2830).

No other text gives a better summary of Jesus revolution. He was not concerned with the reform of certain details, but with overturning everything, including the entire economic hierarchy of society. The rich, as attached as they are to their possessions, are relegated to the last rank, whereas the poor in spirit, who have voluntarily thrown off their possessions to fulfill the Jubilee, are now in the first rank. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfiedWoe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry (Luke 6:21, 25). Only in light of the Jubilee can the meaning and scope of these words fully reveal themselves.

Excerpted from Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution, available FREE in e-book format.

Reprinted from http://www.bruderhof.com/, used with pernission