The community of believers was of one heart and mind … they had everything in common… There was no needy person among them. St. Luke gives an idealized picture of the first generation of Christians. Reading between the lines of the Acts of the Apostles you can see that things did not operate quite as smoothly as this passage implies. Human nature with its greed and selfishness was not done away with because of Jesus. However, the fact that the common life was an ideal is instructive for us today. In our individualized culture the idea that I need to be aware of the needs of others goes counter to the narrative of capitalism. Some politicians claim that caring for others is socialism. No matter what the economic system, the followers of Jesus have the responsibility to care for those who are in need because we share the bond of being brothers and sisters in the family of God.
