Alms and life after death

The "mystical" fundamentals of Luke 16

If I were to pick a subject that might seem to have little to do with matters of high “mystical” consequence, even perhaps “ho-hum” for those whose refined speculative palates desire “meatier” and more rarefied concepts, it would be the triad of basic Christian spiritual practices laid down by the Lord in Matthew 6: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. And, of the three, I dare say that almsgiving would get the biggest yawn from the cerebrally inclined. Prayer has the advantage, in this regard, of being, at least, potentially, an intellectual topic; prayer can be vocal or non-vocal, and it always involves the interaction of the human nous with God’s (“mystical stuff,” in other words). Fasting is a discipline that might engender discussions that go well beyond dietary matters. But almsgiving… What’s to be said about “giving” to those in want beyond the advice of “just do it”? Well, as it happens, much. If Luke 16 is taken into account, the subject of giving has repercussions that stretch far beyond this earthly plane, reaching “through the veil” of death itself, and even putting us in communion with the departed. If that idea is strange to us, possibly somewhat eerie, bear with me. We are still dealing in our posts with “basics,” but as we’ll see, there’s more going on in this single chapter of Luke than meets our modern eyes. The material may be basic, but it’s not boring. An ancient reader or hearer of the same text would have gotten its unsettling points rather quickly. We, on the other hand, require a little more help.