Was Jesus Christ the first communist?

I was amazed when I read today the news about the statements of the president of our country Vladimir Voronin, who during the visit to the “Saint Nicholas” monastery in Condriţa said that “Jesus Christ was the first communist.” I was sorry to read that some, who want to be servants of Christ, agreed with this statement, or had nothing to answer from the Holy Scriptures to these statements.

Neither Jesus Christ nor true Christians were communists, and we can know for sure. Here is an example written in the Gospel of Mark:

As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may inherit eternal life?” But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.” Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. (Mark 10:17-22 NASB)

At first glance, it seems that Jesus followed the communist principle of taking wealth from the rich and giving it to the poor. The central point here and the reason why Jesus asked this man was not the first to meet the needs of the poor with his wealth, but because wealth occupied the place that God would occupy in his life. Jesus sought to help this man free himself from his confidence in wealth. In fact, after the man left, the Bible says that:

And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus responded again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! (Mark 10:23-24 NASB)

The beautiful part that stands out from this text is that the Lord Jesus respected this man and his wealth, he did not take anything from him. He, the Son of God, the God of God, the Word by which all things were made and without which nothing was made, who is master over all things and being master over this man’s wealth, took nothing by force and never forcibly took anything from anyone. Jesus respected the wealth of men and taught all men to do so.

As for the communists, history knows no other regime or system that has robbed and killed so many people. Go to each city and ask how the cooperative or collective farms or were founded and then you will find out how “voluntarily” people gave their fortunes and how much “respect” for people’s belongings the communists showed. Then, after amassing all the people’s wealth and savings, they took so much “care” of the starving poor in 1947 that you could not find a village in Moldova where there were no cases of cannibalism.

When one of my friends came to visit me today and I told him that the president of the country said that Jesus Christ was the first communist, the friend asked, “Then why did they persecute and hate Him so much? Jesus?” Why was it the Christians who chose to obey and follow the Lord Jesus, that they hated most, killed, put us in prison? Why did they do that to Him and to us?

The president also said that today’s communists are no longer what they used to be… Is that really so? Then why are they called “communists?” Why did the sickle and hammer remain their emblem? Are Engels, Marx and Lenin no longer their idols and patriarchs? But all these three founders of the theory and the communist party were penetrated to the marrow by atheism and hatred of God and of men. The communists have been and will always be the same, and their weapons will always remain the same. One of those weapons is lying that knows no bounds.

Let us pray for the president of the country, for the leaders of the Communist Party and for all the people who have come to be deceived by this great lie of the century and to those who continue to be deceived. May God give them His true light through the gospel, faith, and the gift of eternal life.

Translated by Didina Vicliuc