CUSTODIANSHIP NOT OWNERSHIP

"So that you may be sons of your Father in the heavens. For He makes His sun rise on evil and good, and He sends rain on righteous and unrighteous" (Mt 5:45).

I hadn’t realized the use of the possessive determiner ‘HIS’ despite having read this chapter in Matthew’s Gospel a couple of times. It was therefore refreshing to read it with that perspective.

In plain terms, God does what He wants with the sun because “it is HIS” – absolutely, entirely and uncontested.

We often make similar arguments with our possessions: both material and immaterial claiming: “it is mine”. Regarding immaterial things, we claim our body, our gifts, our talents, etc, are all ours. But here is where we forget ‘all that we have, we have been given’. Nothing is therefore really ours to claim.

From the beginning, man was created to have dominion over, not ownership of. There are therefore many things we are custodians of, but not possessors of them. And until we draw clear distinctions between these, we may claim ownership inappropriately.

#sly