Jewish Sources of Christian Charity

Our road beginning to look like Fall.
Jesus' parable about the rich man who ignores the poor man condemns complacent self-indulgence (Luke 16:19-31.)  Jesus insists that attention must be paid to the poor. 
In a thought-provoking article, "The Current of Creation," in the September 27 issue of Commonweal, Gary Anderson maintains at length that Christian charity is "an inheritance the church received from the synagogue."  In post-Biblical Jewish texts giving alms is equal to keeping all the commandments in the Torah.  Charity had become the favored means of worshipping God.  Acts of charity toward the poor became the equivalent of temple sacrifice.  Putting a coin in the hand of a beggar was like offering a fatted calf on the altar.
Beggars in late antiquity used to ask for money using the Hebrew words that meant "Acquire a merit in heaven through a gift to me."  Proverbs 19:17 says, "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full."  God, living in the poor, receives the alms we give to them.  We often ask ourselves, "What's the best way to save for the future?"  Post-Biblical Judaism would answer "Give alms to the poor."
Early Christianity was heavily influenced by this view.  Jesus himself tells us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.  The Fathers of the Church in their preaching used stories similar to those that the rabbis used to show how much almsgiving would be rewarded in the afterlife.  We can't buy our way into heaven, but we can't give worship to God without giving alms to the poor.