Living in Common

  "Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."  So goes the balance of the paragraph about the everyday lives of Jesus' followers (Acts 2:43-47).
  There are still Christian communities that hold some, if not all, of their goods in common.  There are some who eat together every day.  Of those who have tried to live in common (and I am one of them) it seems to work best in small groups.  I suppose there are sociological factors at play relating to group size, how well you know each other, and trust, when groups fall apart.  It didn't always work for the disciples either, as we see at the end of chapter 4 and beginning of chapter 5.
  But why did the disciples do this?  Had they been living from a common purse with Jesus?  Had they always eaten together?  We don't know.  Aside from donations they received, perhaps Peter and the other fishermen sometimes went off to fish, make a little money, and take care of their families before rejoining Jesus in his journey.  Maybe Jesus occasionally worked in a carpentry shop as a day laborer.  
  The Gospel writers did not find those day-to-day details of enough importance to take up precious space on a scroll.  Yet they would be interesting to know.

  For reflection:  Would I be trusting enough, and giving enough, to live in common with others?  Would I sell things I own in order to give to people in need?  Do I treat day laborers as if they might be Jesus?
  Let us pray.  Father, Creator, Multiplier, all we have comes from you.  All we have we owe to you.
 

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