With some monetary help from Joseph, Matthias was able to get his life back on an even keel.  His hand soon recovered and once again he could earn money.

 Joseph and Justus continued to invite Matthias to their homes, and plenty of time was spent building friendships as he met other followers of the Way.  He heard many reports of individuals whose lives had been completely changed by their decision to follow Jesus, and these reports were very attractive to him.  Matthias learned about Jesus as the son of God and worked out what changes he would have to make in his own life if he wanted to be like Jesus.  Though Jesus’ demand that his disciples must be willing to take up a cross to follow him didn’t sound pleasant by itself, the example Jesus had set was so amazing and inspiring that over time, it all started to make sense.  Not only so, but seeing others living the same example was the final, conclusive proof that this way of life really was the best – and the way he wanted to live.

Justus seemed to be growing steadily in his faith, and Matthias found his methodical, thorough approach to living his religion convincing.  He also kept thanking God that he had met Joseph that day in the temple, because Joseph was able to encourage people like nobody Matthias had ever met.  Not only so, but his encouragement often enabled people whom others dismissed as hopeless cases to achieve amazing results.

Joseph appeared to have a gift for seeing the potential in others and then finding a way to convince them to strive for it.  And it was never just nice-sounding words – it was clearly a genuine care for his brothers and sisters that drove him to convince people to keep trying, however hard things were.

After a while, the apostles began to hear about Joseph and his wonderful work.  Busy as they were with preaching, they were excited to hear of others taking up the extra work that their preaching generated.  After all, important though it was to convince crowds of people that Jesus was the saviour, those who committed themselves to Jesus through baptism needed companionship and guidance as they began to live their new life.

“Following Jesus is so different from following the law as the scribes and Pharisees live it,” observed Justus as he stood with Joseph in the temple one day.

“Yes.  Some of the differences are obvious: after all, Jesus wasn’t rich; he didn’t go around parading his piety; and he didn’t criticise people unless they targeted others.  But some differences are quite subtle, and I think that we’re only just beginning to understand them.”

How right Joseph was!  In fact, some of those differences would require the direct intervention of Jesus before his followers would understand them.  The greatest of these was the inclusion of the Gentiles without turning them into proselytes to Judaism, but this complication had not yet arisen.

“You could be right,” said Justus, “but for the moment we still have so much to learn about the basics.  After all, the kingdom of God is near!  Jesus is returning soon.”

“True: the angels told the apostles that he would come in the same way as he went up into heaven.”

“And then he will judge us.  He said something about sheep and goats, didn’t he?”

“Yep.  It was a parable he told.  The sheep were the people who actually helped others, while the goats were the ones who didn’t.”

“But the sheep didn’t think they’d been doing anything good, did they?  Doesn’t that seem strange?  I’ve heard the story from others, but I don’t understand that bit.”

“Jesus was saying that helping any believer is the same as helping him.  So when you take people like Matthias into your home and feed them, that’s the same as inviting Jesus home and giving him a meal.”

“That sounds like a good thing to do then.”

“Uh-huh.  And you made him feel at home too.”

“I’m glad he felt at home, but I didn’t do anything that I wouldn’t do normally.”

Joseph laughed.  “And there you have the lesson Jesus was teaching.  The sheep he was talking about are people who help others so often and so naturally that they don’t even notice they’re doing it.”

“What about the goats though?”

“Perhaps they were waiting for someone who was important enough to be worth helping.  Someone like Jesus.  They weren’t willing to help just ordinary people, and they justified themselves too.  The goats were only good at doing important work and helping important people.  That meant they didn’t help all the ‘ordinary’ people who actually needed their help.”

“I guess that makes sense.  Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, didn’t he, and yet he’s much more important than they are.  Maybe we’ve got to learn to help people who seem to be less important than we are.”

“I think you’re right.  So if you keep on doing that as you have been doing, then Jesus will welcome you into his kingdom.  Isn’t that a wonderful thing to look forward to?”

“It sure is.  But Jesus also told his disciples to avoid helping people so that everyone can see it.”

“Yes, that’s an important point that Jesus made quite often.  And it’s one of the things that makes following the Way so different from how we saw religion practiced in the temple, isn’t it?  We have to avoid the temptation to show off our ‘religiosity’ to anyone who’s watching.”

“But you’ve been helping people with your money all the time.  I’ve never heard you announcing it or telling anybody else about it, but I know you’ve been doing it.  How does that fit in with keeping it secret?”

“Jesus said that if we make sure that people know about the help we give then we’ve received all the reward we’re going to get for that work.  But if that wasn’t our reason and they just happened to hear about it, that’s different.  At the same time, he did say that we should do things in secret, not even letting our left hand know what our right hand is doing, and he said it was because God knows what we do in secret and will reward us.  If we do our best to keep our good work secret, then that will guarantee that we aren’t doing it so that others will see it.  It’s a good test, but even so, secret things have a habit of coming out into the open – whether they’re good or bad.”

Joseph found that many of the new believers needed encouragement.  As Jesus had observed, the well-known religious leaders of Judaism were rich, but many of the people they looked down on as “sinners” lived in grinding poverty.  John the Baptist had given practical instructions for helping others, and the believers had opportunities to apply those instructions daily.  Despite the riches of the earth, many in Jerusalem did not have enough to live comfortably from day to day.  These were often people who had suffered from accidents or sudden bereavements, from crime or oppression, from personal failure or the results of bad choices.

 

John had said to help such people based on their need, rather than trying to assess whether they deserved such help: if one had the ability to help, one must help.  Most of the believers were already poor and the help they could give was limited, but they gave very practical help.  The food and clothing they shared kept the needy alive, and the teaching of salvation they also provided could work its work for eternity.  Preaching – by itself – was inadequate if the urgent pressures of survival were too great to allow the hearers to listen, yet physical help alone could not address the question of eternal salvation.  As the apostles often reminded their audiences, people could only be saved through Jesus, and the apostles must concentrate on preaching that great news.  Yet the need for physical help was increasing as more and more people joined the ranks of believers.

“You know, Justus, I’m running out of money to give to our brothers and sisters who need it,” said Joseph one day.  He was sitting in Justus’ house, where they had been sharing a meal with guests.  The last guest had just left.  Before the meal, which Justus’ wife had kindly prepared, Justus had talked to their visitors about the new life in Christ.  Joseph had provided the funds.

“I’m not surprised.  You’re so quick to give to anyone who needs it.”

“Well, I can’t give salvation the way Jesus did, but at least I can share my money and my time as he did.  God provided richer people who were able to support Jesus as he preached,[1] and now he seems to be using me to support others in the same sort of way.  You know, I still get amazed by how much God prepares things in advance for when they will be needed.  My father and grandfather became rich through their own hard work and God’s blessings, and now the fruits of their work can be used to help lots of people many years later.  That’s what I call planning in advance!”

“Yes.  Amazing, isn’t it?  But you said you were running out of money.”

“Well, cash, yes.  But that’s what raises my next question.”

“Which is?”

“I have a property: some land that I own.  It seems to me that the need among the believers is great, and it’s likely to keep increasing.”

“Yes, I think you’re right.  A hope for the future is more attractive to poor people than to rich people.  They’re already comfortable enough.”

“I don’t know if I fall into your category of ‘rich’, Justus, but I know that I want the comfort of a hope for the future more than I want the comfort money can give.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking about you.  You don’t act like a rich person!  You don’t live in comfort, you don’t hoard your money, you don’t sneer at poor people like me.  In short, you try to be like Jesus.  That’s just one more way you’ve earned the name people use for you now: Barnabas, Son of Encouragement.”

“Well, I do try to, but it’s embarrassing being given a special name like that.”

Joseph's question will be continued in Part 3 (God willing)…

 

 

[1] e.g. Luke 8:1-3