Growing up poor
meant growing up with the constant awareness of who had what.
More or less,
fair or unfair, needs and wants—all carefully weighed and measured by my
parents and ultimately, us.
My parents did
their best to insulate us from financial uncertainty, but the message that I
internalized was that whatever I had, came at the expense of another.
If had more milk,
my sister had less. If I got new clothes, my father went without new shoes.
My mom’s IRA was cashed
in so that we could have a computer for school. My brother’s heart surgery came
at the expense of my parents’ pride as they begged a wealthy relative for the
money to get him to the hospital thousands of miles away.
Ultimately, I was
indoctrinated into my maternal family’s narrative of how wealth had been lost
through my ancestors’ foolishness and greed. The question of who had more milk
was connected to the question of who owned the dairy my father worked for. The
question of how we were going to afford the extravagances of things like
computers and heart surgery emphasized the lines between the relatives who had and
we, who had not.
My mom had a
narrative of “if onlys” that shaped our collective understanding of our family’s
place in the economy of this world--if only the money had not been squandered,
if only that side of the family hadn’t cheated us out of the inheritance, if
only my grandfather had invested better, if only my grandmother had married
better, if only my great aunt had not died, if only her son had not been mentally ill…if
only.
I don’t think
that my parents intended to teach us that wealth was a by-product of
exploitation, but ultimately, that was the message that took shape.
And, in
encountering the texts we heard proclaimed today, I am both amused and troubled
by the reality that my parent’s unintended message was biblical in scope.
Because, within
the biblical world there was a shared understanding that goods are limited and
that the only way to get ahead was to take advantage of others. From Pharaoh’s
reliance upon slave labor to Jacob cheating his brother of his birth right—there
is an oft repeated theme in scripture that, for better or for worse, resources
are finite and advancement comes at the cost of another.
For those of us
who occupy the space of the haves, the implications of this biblical
understanding are uncomfortable at best. And, so today, many of us are going to
feel uncomfortable…
Because, if we
are to take these scriptures seriously within our own context we need to
grapple with the impact of contemporary theories of limitless economic growth,
personal hoarding of wealth, and exploitation of this planet’s resources, and
hear the truth in the prophet Amos’ 8th century warning to the
wealthy, “you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you
have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.”
Amos is not
simply castigating, he is issuing a caution to those whose wealth comes at the
expense of others—making it clear to his audience that the short-term benefit,
gained through the exploitation of the poor, will ultimately fail to protect
them and their descendents from the fall out of their excesses.
This isn’t about
haves or have nots—it’s about all of us who have to wrestle with the real cost
of our lifestyles and livelihoods on others. Because, while it is true that in
the short term our wealth can protect us from suffering, in the long term, our
failure to act on behalf of others will cost us and our descendants the very
security we have strived for—our own metaphorical houses of hewn stone and our
vineyards, abandoned.
Let me pause for
a moment to offer that I wrote these words and speak them now out of the fear
and anxiety instilled in me by reading portions of the UN Climate Report—a report
that is, in its own way prophetic.
Prophets in
Israelite society served as a means of criticism and opposition to abuses--both
political and religious. Prophets
pointed out the injustices in society when warranted, and gave warning and
challenge to the powers that be. Amos, specifically, is seeking to address the
social, political and religious abuses of the people as a whole as opposed to
the excesses of a single king or religious authority. So, to understand the UN
Climate Report as prophetic is to understand that it is offering us a
collective warning that our individual and societal injustices have both immediate
and future consequences.
In this, I see climate
scientists serving as modern day prophets and urging us to action, both
individual and collective, so that we might begin to mitigate the impact of our
excesses on this fragile earth, our island home. They are not without hope…but hope
demands action and the prophets are shining a light so that we might use our
resources wisely and liberate ourselves from the pursuit of wealth at this
planet’s expense.
Both the prophet
Amos and this prophetic climate report are giving us an opportunity to pursue
the kind of intense engagement and self-critique that can lead to true
repentance. In Hebrew, the word to repent is a word that means to return to
God, shuv. And, as I bring the contemporary prophets challenges into the
context of biblical prophecy, I am challenged to explore how we are being
called to return to God—to re-align ourselves, our lives and our livelihoods
with God’s intention for the good of all creation.
For the good of
all.
Not some, all.
Repentance is not
easy, returning is not easy, none of this is easy. But, it IS essential. For
our good and the good of all creation, we must (as the prophet says), “seek
good and not evil, so that we may live”.
So that we may
live--this brings us to the Gospel and a rich man’s question, “ Good Teacher, what
must I do to inherit eternal life?”
For all of his
wealth, the rich young man is still seeking something—he does not know what or
how or why, but his wealth has proven insufficient. And so, having heard of a
teacher who may have some answers to this pervasive sense that all is not well,
he approaches Jesus and his followers. What must I do to “inherit eternal life”,
to enter the kingdom of God, for myself?
It’s a self-centered
question, and it’s met with a response that pushes the rich man to consider
those apart from himself. One of the key themes of this week’s passages is the
importance of moving from isolation to connection. As I heard the Gospel
proclaimed I imagined the scene—a young man walking alone, approaches Jesus and
his followers. He’s heard that Jesus’ teachings are enlightening and he is
seeking what they seem to have found. But, when Jesus tells him that he needs
to relinquish his wealth for the good of others, the man is disappointed and
walks away, alone.
To live the
commandments, yes, but to further the commandments by relinquishing his wealth
in service to others—that’s much harder. Wealth has, arguably, made his life and
the lives of those he loves easier. But, in a world of limited goods, the
enrichment of self, beyond any sense of enough, means the impoverishment of
others. We may not want to think about it, I know I don’t, but the scripture is
not letting us off the hook. And, so we need to take our discomfort seriously.
If our enrichment
of self comes at the expense of others, we will, like the rich man in today’s
Gospel find ourselves, ultimately, bereft. Because, while our wealth and our
resources may protect us from suffering in the short term, they can also blind
us to the suffering of others. This begs the question, what kind of sacrifices
are we willing to make in order to reduce suffering for others? Or, to put it
another way, are we willing to suffer so that others might suffer less?
Amen.
I know these were
hard words and my heart hurts, and so as you move from this space and into the
next, do not go comfortless and let us hold the words of the prophet as our
prayer, our calling, and our hope,
Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
just as you have said.
just as you have said.
Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.Amen.
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