Augustine of Hippo: The law of Christ and the burdens of the rich and poor

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

“If you give to a needy person, who’s got nothing, you reduce his load for him, which consisted of having nothing; if you give him something, he starts having something; his burden, that’s called not having anything, is reduced. And he in turn is reducing your burden, which is called having more than enough. The two of you are walking along God’s road in the journey through this world. You were carrying vast superfluous provisions, while he didn’t have any provisions at all. He has attached himself to you, desiring to be your companion; don’t ignore him, don’t turn him away, don’t leave him behind. Can’t you see how much you are carrying? Give some of it to him, since having nothing he’s carrying nothing, and you will be helping your companion, and he will be relieving you.”


Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, (354-430) Sermon 164.9, trans. Daniel Doyle and Edmund Hill (New York: New City Press).

Beware, he says, of all avarice; because a person’s life is not to be found in the abundance of what he possesses in it. Luke 12:15

“It’s not only the grabber of other people’s property who is avaricious, but the one who greedily looks after his own…Someone who stashes away vast quantities–how much does he take from it all to live on? When he’s taken that and somehow or other has set aside in his mind what’s enough to live on, let him consider who will have the rest that’s left over; or perhaps, while you are saving what to live on, you may be storing up what to die from.”


Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, (354-430) Sermon 107.4 trans. Daniel Doyle and Edmund Hill (New York: New City Press).

“Gifts aren’t meant to be repaid, they are meant to be passed along.”

Johnny Crawford (Robert Duvall) in Seven Days in Utopia (2011)

What are you doing with all of God’s good gifts to you?

Greed essentially has no limit. It is boundless in its grasping for money or fame and its need to fill others’ minds with ourselves. It leads to a lack of respect for the needs of others because our own needs overrun all normal boundaries and limits. Evagrius sees it this way:

“Avarice suggests to the mind a lengthy old age, an inability to perform manual labor at some future date, and famines that are sure to come. It sees sickness that will visit us, the pinch of poverty, and the great shame that comes from accepting the necessities of life from others.”

The godly virtue of generosity overcomes greed by recognizing that our greatest good is found in sharing with others in community. It celebrates the contributions of others because we are content in the value and place of our own contribution. We no longer possess an insatiable desire for fame or money because we see God’s provision as sufficient.

Evagrius of Ponticus (345-399) as featured in Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion by Richard J. Foster and Gayle D. Beebe (Downers Grove: IVP, 2009) 59

“Jesus Christ came to blind those who saw clearly, and to give sight to the blind; to heal the sick, and to leave the healthy to die; to call to repentance, and to justify sinners, and to leave the righteous in their sins; to fill the needy and leave the rich empty.”

Blaise Pascal in Pensées (Thoughts), trans. W.F. Trotter, #770 (cf. Luke 1:53, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:32).

“As fearful people we are inclined to develop a mind-set that makes us say: “There’s not enough food for everyone, so I better be sure I save enough for myself in case of emergency,” or “There’s not enough knowledge for everyone to enjoy; so I’d better keep my knowledge to myself, so no one else will use it” or “There’s not enough love to give to everybody, so I’d better keep my friends for myself to prevent others from taking them away from me.”   This is a scarcity mentality.  It involves hoarding whatever we have, fearful that we won’t have enough to survive. The tragedy, however, is that what you cling to ends up rotting in your hands.

The opposite of a scarcity mentality is an abundance mentality. With an abundance mentality we say:  “There is enough for everyone, more than enough:  food, knowledge, love … everything.”  With this mind-set we give away whatever we have, to whomever we meet. When we see hungry people we give them food. When we meet ignorant people we share our knowledge; when we encounter people in need of love, we offer them friendship and affection and hospitality and introduce them to our family and friends. When we live with this mind-set, we will see the miracle that what we give away multiplies: food, knowledge, love…everything. There will even be many leftovers.”

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) in Henri Nouwen Society: Daily Meditation from 6-7 May 2012.

“We are to invoke God alone in every need, and yet this does not exclude our requesting the help of others. For it is God who has conferred on them their ability to help and has appointed them “ministers” of his beneficence. Whatever benefit we receive from others we should regard as coming from God, who alone bestows every benefit through their “ministry.”

Then comes the interesting question (Q. 237): “But should we not be grateful to other people when they perform some service for us?”

Answer: “Of course we should, precisely because God honors them by channeling through their hands the good things that flow to us from the inexhaustible fountain of his generosity. In this way he puts us in their debt, and he wants us to acknowledge it. Anyone, therefore, who does not show gratitude to other people betrays ingratitude to God as well.”

B.A. Gerrish in Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2002) 44-45.

“God is a god of abundance, not a god of scarcity. Jesus reveals to us God’s abundance when he offers so much bread to the people that there are twelve large baskets with leftover scraps (see John 6:5-15), and when he makes his disciples catch so many fish that their boat nearly sinks (Luke 5:1-7). God doesn’t give us just enough. God gives us more than enough: more bread and fish than we can eat, more love than we dared to ask for.”

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) in Henri Nouwen Society: Daily Meditation on 5 May 2012.

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Luke 16:9

“His command [in Luke 16:9] is not that you should yield to a request or wait to be pestered, but that you should personally seek out men whom you may benefit, men who are worthy disciples of the Saviour. Now the Apostle’s saying is also good, “God loveth a cheerful giver,” one who takes pleasure in giving and sows not sparingly, for fear he should reap sparingly, but shares his goods without murmurings or disputes or annoyance. This is sincere kindness. Better than this is that which is said by the Lord another place; “Give to everyone that asketh thee;” for such generosity is truly of God. But more divine than all is this saying, that we should not even wait to be asked, but should personally seek after whoever is worthy of help, and then fix the exceedingly great reward of our sharing, an eternal habitation.”

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) in Who is the Rich Man Who is Being Saved? 31.2 LCL 337.

“Everything that is, is freely given by the God of love. All is grace. Light and water, shelter and food, work and free time, children, parents and grandparents, birth and death–it is all given to us. Why? So that we can say gracias, thanks: thanks to God, thanks to each other, thanks to all and everyone.”

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) in Gracias! (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983) 187.