When I think of the commandment that says, “You shall not steal,” my mind automatically races to the day that I returned home from vacation to discover the lower rooms of our home glistening with pools of water and possessions soaked, falling apart, and beginning to gain a musty odor. I do not know if you have experienced the theft of your possessions by flood waters, but if you have you understand the initial sense of complete helplessness you get as you slog through the waters, staring at the enormity of the destruction. Where do you even begin to recover from such an event?
But, that devastating sense of helplessness very quickly turns to hope as you look out the foggy windows and see the faces of friends and church members arriving to help in the huge task of cleaning up, rebuilding, and giving an ear to your devastation. I cannot express how grateful I am to God for all of you who helped us as we gazed helplessly and hopelessly at our theft by flood. That help in our time of need was the positive sense of the commandment to not steal in its purest form.
“’Positive sense of the commandment?’ ‘What do you mean by that Pastor Jira?’”
All of the commandments about loving our neighbors (not murdering, not committing adultery, not stealing, not speaking poorly of our neighbor, not coveting) can and should also be viewed in their positive sense. Take stealing for example; the great Reformer Martin Luther put it this way in his Small Catechism: “We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors’ money or property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income.”
Did you hear the positive sense of the commandment? We are to help our neighbors, “improve and protect their property and income.” Not only do we not steal from our neighbors, we also make certain to help our neighbors protect their things, repair their things, and help them to secure their income.
That is exactly what I saw out my window that day as I waded through the muck and wreckage. I saw the people of God, sent by Jesus Christ to love us and help us to protect and repair our property and things. I saw the positive sense of the commandment to not steal. I saw love. As if Jesus himself was walking toward me, I saw love walking toward our house carrying gloves, mops, vacuums, cleaners, and willing hands. It was a beautiful sight.
And, it is that positive sense of the commandment (those hands and feet offering help) that I want you to keep in mind as we wade into this commandment about stealing. It is that positive understanding that will help us to answer some of the ethically sticky questions concerning the commandment.
Now, we all know that it is plain wrong to just go into a store and take something that is not yours. Kids find out quickly that there is a severe punishment for taking a toy off the self without paying for it. But, not all instances of stealing are quite so cut and dry.
Is it stealing to take some time during work to accomplish a task that you need to accomplish for your family? Did you just steal some time from your employer?
Is it stealing to try a grape in the grocery store in order to make certain that it is sweet? Why do we not try a strawberry, or quick cook up a piece of steak to make certain that it is tender? Why do grapes get a stealing exception? Some stores will give you samples. It is obviously OK if they give it to you, but is it OK for you to just take it without asking?
Is it stealing someone’s hard earned money if you sell them something that you know does not work, or is likely to fail very soon? Are used car salesmen stealing when they knowingly sell a car that is just on the edge of failure, or is that the buyer’s fault for not getting it checked out first? Similarly, it is stealing someone’s hard earned money when you sell a cheap product that will not last long?
Is it stealing someone’s talent and hard work when you pay them a low wage? They agreed to the low wage, did they not? Does it make a difference if there are lots of jobs in the community? Does it make a difference it there are few opportunities for good employment in the area?
Is it stealing for a company or government to take personal property intended for the common good? What if it is taken for a road? What if it is for a parking lot? What if it is for a homeless shelter? What if it is for a company’s employee recreational center?
Is it stealing your neighbor’s reputation when you speak poorly of them in order to gain an advantage against them? Maybe, you are running for an elected office?
Is it wrong to take a couple pieces of bread from the window sill of someone well off in order to feed a starving child who will die otherwise? Or, has the well off person stolen life from those around them by refusing to help when they have the gifts to help?
The Lord says, “You shall not steal” and that seems real clear until you start applying it to the messiness of life.
Luckily, the Biblical tradition seeks to help us out as we try to figure out the ethics of theft. The Biblical tradition would like us to think about these commandments in the positive sense. Are you helping to protect and preserve your neighbor’s property and income, or are you aiding in damaging it? If you cannot answer that you are helping, then you are likely breaking the commandment.
Can people live on the wage you provide? If not, you are probably stealing.
Are people improved by your actions or harmed? If they are harmed, you are probably stealing.
Thinking of it in that sense, most of us have probably stolen in some sense of the word. I know that I have. But, here is the thing; God does not need you to be perfect in order for you to be loved. That time that I took a single, bright, little, red Lego which had fallen under the lip of the shelves in the toy store probably will not land me in the depths of the fiery pit. Jesus has gone to the cross to save me from not only that failure but ones with greater consequence.
God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does. Your neighbor needs to you care about them, their property, and their prosperity. Your neighbor needs you to take the commandment about stealing seriously.
This is hard. I fail to preserve and protect my neighbor and their things all the time. And, failing to do so reveals a crack that has formed in my faith. Jesus points out this crack clearly when he instructs:
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.”
And Jesus continues in the same way,
“Do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
According to Jesus, the crack in our faith that stealing reveals is: trust. Taking what is not ours, or worrying about not having enough reveals that we lack trust that the Lord will provide. Adam and Eve do not trust that the Lord will provide wisdom, so they steal it from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Israelites in the wilderness do not trust that God will give them food, so they store up extra manna and suffer when it rots. I do not trust that all will be good again when I stare hopelessly at the flood waters and that lack of trust brings me to despair.
But, then I look out the window. I look through the humidity clinging to the window and see the people of Jesus Christ coming near. I look out the window and see the people of God who care about my property, my well-being, and my life. I look out and see the people of God who take positive sense of the commandment about stealing seriously. I look out and see the love of Jesus Christ walking my way, and it makes a difference.
“You shall not steal.” You shall “improve and protect other’s property and income.” It is love.
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