The Onus of Ownership

I’m not altogether comfortable with the label ‘land-owner’. It’s what I am in legal terms, however, the whole concept of owning land feels weighty and undeserved and on the other hand, commonplace and expected. I came into this world without a stitch and I will leave it in the same way. All that I gather in between will eventually be someone else’s. I know and accept this. In fact, it’s what keeps me from claiming any identity in connection with my possessions.

My growing appetite around this topic turns me toward three reliable teachers: life, people and the Bible. What do these three sources say about land ownership for me?

The Bible talks about giants of the faith who, “acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on earth.” It also instructs the Hebrews who were dragged off to Babylon after Jerusalem fell to, “build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce…seek the welfare of the city where you have settled for your welfare is tied up in their welfare.”

“The land belongs to all, not to the rich; and yet those who are deprived of its use are many more than those who enjoy it.” Ambrose, 5^th century

“That bread which you keep belongs to the hungry; that coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked; those shoes which are rotting in your possession, to the shoeless; that gold which you have hidden in the ground (or your safety deposit box), to the needy. Wherefore, as often as you were able to help others, and refused, so often did you do them wrong.” Basil of Caesarea

I’m tempted to stop writing here as the sheer force of these words pins me to the wall! How often have I done wrong by passively refusing to help others by keeping what I have to myself?

Setting these truths down in black and white show my pecuniary responsibilities for what they are. That’s a healthy place as well as a freeing place for me. I am gradually waking up to the fact that land ownership (and ownership in general) has attached to it a cost far beyond its list price and living exilically means living open-handedly, prayerfully, and intentionally.

Where does this leave me? The land ownership title still rankles but in light of the wisdom of these sages, my direction for the use of what I own is clearer and best of all, it reaches far beyond the confines of this life. Now there’s the bit that settles.