the question remains: how can one avoid freezing credit if the lure of profit is taken away? In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave his answer. The rich must prove themselves generous by eradicating their desire to be reimbursed, because God will take the matter into his own hands.
And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even “sinners” lend to “sinners,” expecting to be repaid in full. But…lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful…Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. (Luke 6:34–38)
In all this the honesty of the debtor must coincide with the generosity of the lender. The debtor should not hide behind the protection of the sabbatical year in order to escape his own obligation. Again, the Sermon on the Mount contains two striking paragraphs where Jesus points out possible solutions to the problem upon which Hillel and the Pharisees had stumbled.
Hillel would tell the worried creditor: “Take your claims to the court. Your money will be restored to you there.” Jesus tells the careless debtor not to wait for a court summons to repay his debt: “If someone [your creditor] wants to sue you [using the prosbul] and take your tunic6 [which he holds as a pledge for the debt you have not repaid], let him have your cloak as well” (Matt. 5:40). Prior to this, Jesus advises, “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he [using the prosbul] may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny” (Matt. 5:25). According to the parallel passage in Luke 12:52–59, Jesus asks, “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?” His disciples should avoid court proceedings altogether. Why should they rely on the courts to decide whether or not it is right to pay their debts?7
The other parable with a jubilean teaching, the parable of the dishonest steward (Luke 16:1–9), also revolves around the peasants’ status in Jesus’ time. Due to the extortions of King Herod – as well as those of his son and the Roman occupant – most of the older proprietors had lost their independence. Forced to mortgage their property in order to pay their taxes, they had been driven into semi-slavery. The taxes in oil and wheat that they paid to their masters often amounted to half or more of their harvest.
The peasants’ conditions in Israel were aggravated by yet another evil: the owners’ absenteeism. A hierarchy of middlemen (toll-gatherers, publicans, customs officials, stewards, and managers) had the task of collecting debts. They extorted from the sharecropper arbitrary sums of money that exceeded the rent, debts, and taxes they actually owed. The poor were always in the wrong. They could rely on no one because the stewards presented falsified accounts to their masters. With the help of these accounts, they were able to accumulate what Jesus called “unrighteous mammon.” It was by constantly seeking these unjust riches that the stewards lost their genuine riches, namely, the friendship of their fellow citizens.
This parable tells how a landowner discovered the dishonesty of his steward. Not only did the steward plunder the sharecroppers, he also stole from his master to whom he showed falsified records. Once his cheating had been discovered, the steward began to feel the pangs of conscience. He understood that he would never be able to reimburse the entire amount of his swindling. But he decided at least not to require of the sharecroppers exaggerated amounts they had not yet paid. He then erased the amount by which he had unjustly increased their debts. Jesus describes him calling the debtors together and reducing their debts to their correct amount: fifty measures of oil instead of a hundred, eighty measures of wheat instead of a hundred, etc.
Such a decision certainly increased the steward’s insolvency. It forced him into poverty. But by acting as he did, he would acquire genuine riches, that is the thankfulness and friendship of his previous victims. Poor among the poor, man among men, he would be received as a brother in their homes. That, says Jesus, is the nature of God’s kingdom. The point of the parable? Jesus says, “Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves”(Luke 16:9). That is, put the Jubilee I’m announcing into practice. By liberating others from their debts, you set yourselves free from fetters that bind, which keep you from being ready for the coming of God’s kingdom of justice.
The most remarkable part of the parable is the praise for the steward’s shrewdness that Jesus puts into the mouth of the landowner, who symbolizes God. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, God is the one who takes the initiative. God is the first to cancel our debt, and so he expects us to do the same. In the parable of the dishonest steward, it is man who takes the initiative. He is the first to put the Jubilee into practice by obeying the messianic call and remitting the debts of those who are debtors to God, as well as debtors to himself. Consequently, God praises this man for practicing the redistribution of wealth even before being touched by divine grace. He was able to read the signs of God’s kingdom and understand that the rule of unjust riches is over.
These two parables coincide with and confirm the inferences of the speech at Nazareth, the Lord’s Prayer, and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was indeed proclaiming a Jubilee, consistent with Moses’ sabbatical instructions, a Jubilee capable of reversing the social problems of Israel at that time. It would abolish debts and set free the debtors whose insolvency had turned them into slaves. For Jesus, putting such a Jubilee into practice was not optional. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” was one of the prerequisites of his kingdom. Those who refused to take heed could not enter.
The Redistribution of Capital
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 people’s only wealth, or in today’s 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 12:31–33). 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
