How the World Works
We often hear that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and that is a bad thing, especially if we try to live according to our faith, right?
"I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them-bring them here and slaughter them in my presence." - Luke 19:26-27
In today's Gospel, Luke gives us a parable from Jesus that seems to agree with that saying. Those who have will gain more, and those who have little will lose what they have.
This parable is interpreted by many to be about our call to spread the Gospel. The more we bring to Christ the better, for if we do nothing, all we have will be lost.
While I understand the importance of that message, I don't think it fits this parable as well as many preachers tell us.
Jesus uses parables to stir up discussion among his disciples. He wants to get them and us thinking, and this one can do that only if we see ourselves as the last slave. If we put Jesus in the role of the master, we have no choice but to think this is about salvation. But if we put the world in that role, we see it is about something else altogether.
In the context of the culture and history of the time, one multiplied one's wealth, or land, by taking from others. To live in harmony with one's neighbors, one might play a zero-sum game, where all benefits and no one gains over the others.
This is the thinking of the last slave, the one the world punishes for failing to take control away from those who have little.
If this is still how the world works, and many say it is, then what is the message for us, the message Jesus wants his disciples to hear?
If the powers that be cannot be trusted to take care of our neighbors who have little, then the job falls to us, the truly trusted slaves. We are tasked with feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick.
Governments and corporations are not to be trusted to do what takes heart and compassion to accomplish. Until the day comes when love powers all, it is our job to buck the establishment, sacrifice our personal gain, and do the work of Christ, God's work on earth.
So, let the world have it's interests and let us get busy loving one another.
More to come...