The first possibilty bothers me ... like David and Larry pointed out, this seems to create a moral hierarchy (preaching to others is better than helping others), and also seems to seperate contemplation from action, when I'd like them to be combined.
The second possibility seems more acceptable ... to divide preaching from money worries. I may be going off on an unrelated tangent, but this is one thing I appreciate about the catholic model ... priests are not directly "paid" for preaching by those to whom they preach, at least not exactly. And they don't decide how the money that does come in will be spent. Thus preaching will not be swayed by concerns like ... am I preaching popular stuff that will bring in paying customers? Hmmm, Bob hasn't been in church recently, listening to my great sermons - let's not give him any charity.
At any rate, the NAB also points out that this passage was probably put in to introduce Stephen, who will have a big part to play later as a martyr. Whenever he is mentioned, he's not shown taking care of the finances or handing out food, but preaching.
3 comments:
Hi xianchick :-). I think you're right about the division of labor. I remember reading that Paul, for instance, was reprimanded for moonlighting - doing other work besides preaching.
About the kind of people the early christians were ... obviously they were very dedicated and brave and inspired by the holy spirit. But they were also human, with foibles and flaws, I think.
Don't you suppose they may have been 'good, bad, and indifferent' just like a present day church. Consecrated, hypocritival, honest, conniving. The whole gamut. I don't think we need to put them up on a pedastal, although many were no doubt to be highly honored.
Well, it is hard to find fault with the guys Jesus himself picked :-). And I do think they were well-intentioned, courageous, genuine. But just a few scriptural passages ago, a couple of the church members were struck dead when they didn't turn over all their money to the church ... money may have cused some conflicts even back then.
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