Stephen
Terry, Director
Blueprint
for a Better World
Commentary
for the July 13, 2019 Sabbath School Lesson
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who
are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you
since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to
eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you
invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked
after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'"
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did
we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When
did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'"
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for
one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"
Matthew 25:34-40, NIV
We have a new normal in the United States that is
reminiscent of the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro or the migrant camps of the Dust
Bowl era in the United States during the Depression Era of the 1930s. While
many see this as a political problem, it seems to be growing no matter which
party is in ascendance. While the Republicans blame the Democrats, the
Democrats blame the Republicans, and the Independents blame both, no one seems
to be able to grasp that the problem is selfishness inherent to human hearts
coupled with condescension to those who are struggling. Rather than asking how
to help and seeking opportunities to be a part of the solution, some want to
simply pass laws intended to make it illegal to be homeless. This simply
parrots Ebenezer Scrooge's solution in Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol,"
when he asks "Are there no prisons?" to house the poor. Sadly, we have applied
that solution to the extreme. As a nation, we have a larger percentage of our
population in prison than most other countries, including those deemed to be
oppressive dictatorships. Even now the prison system continues to grow at a phenomenal
rate and has even been privatized in many places where it has become a
profitable enterprise.
One of the uglier sides of a society based on Capitalism
is the tendency to make the suffering of some a means of profit. Even those who
are not in the prison system are nonetheless victimized. I was born in a time
when someone might run a tab at a local grocery store, but the thought of using
a revolving credit card to pay for things, especially for food seemed crazy to
most. Later with the introduction of that kind of credit it became common to
use it for major purchases like household appliances or for unforeseen expenses
like automobile repairs. At that time, most places had a cap on the amount of
interest that could be charged with anything above 18% considered usurious.
Perhaps seeking to avoid that image, most charged far less. However, some
states realized they could attract the banking industry to locate in their
states by either eliminating those caps or greatly increasing them. The result
has brought us interest rates now approaching 30%. With far too many making
only the minimum payment each month or very little more than that because they
are too poor to afford more, we have created a new class of economic slaves who
may never be free in their lifetimes. Realizing this, creditors push for credit
life insurance, so that their profits are not jeopardized when the death of the
debtor eventually happens. Knowing that if they offered credit cards at 30%
interest up front, few would take them up on the offer, the predatory lenders
bait the traps well. A typical entree
into economic slavery might begin like this. "I see you like the new winter
coats we are offering. Did you know that for our credit card customers, we can
offer it at 50% off, and a first time purchase on your card qualifies for an
additional 20% off? That coat would look great on you this fall. Would you like
to sign up?" After all, what is a $100 or even $200 loss on a coat compared to
a lifetime of debt interest, especially usurious interest?
There is also an industry that has grown at the same
time. The debt consolidation industry, often financed by the same institutions
that finance the credit cards, offers to roll all that high interest debt owed
on several cards into a single loan with a lower payment and a lower interest
rate, a rate more commensurate with what should have been charged in the first
place perhaps. If used wisely without accumulating more debt, this can provide
some relief to the debtor who is making payments but not reducing the balance
on their debt. But if the borrower does not curtail their borrowing then it
simply becomes a vehicle to increase the amount of debt that enslaves them, for
they simply go on opening new accounts and soon find themselves in the same circumstances
they were before, but now with the addition of the consolidation debt. Again
low cost life insurance is offered, making the life of the debtor the
collateral for the loans.
This is only one of many examples of means that are used
to redistribute wealth from the many to the few. Naturally those few resist any
attempt to redistribute that wealth back in the other direction as socialist or
communist. One of the great successes of this scheme of economic slavery is the
ability of those behind it to get the slaves to fasten their own manacles by
convincing them that anything other than the economic servitude they are trapped
in is a much greater evil to be avoided at all cost, even the cost of their own
freedom. This may even be easier to pass off in the United States where the
standard of living has been historically better than much of the rest of the
world. We have been birds in a gilded cage we have been taught to love. But
that cage is showing some tarnish of late as our cities are becoming centers of
all too visible homeless poverty. There is a Christian solution, but unlike Socialism
or Communism, Christianity does not promise an earthly utopia where all poverty
is eliminated. We have had far too many examples of the failure of those
promises. Even Jesus acknowledged that poverty will always be present.[i] But this was not a new
thought. It was also expressed in the Pentateuch.[ii] The Christian solution is
for each of us to do what we can to relieve suffering even for those who may
not deserve it. We are to be like God in that respect, sharing our blessings
with the just and the unjust.[iii] If we were to do this,
there would be no desire for socialism, communism or even governmental
redistribution of wealth. But because we too often refuse to lower our standard
of living to be able to help others, especially if we feel they do not deserve
help, government steps in to make up for our failure to act.
Some have turned their backs on God over accounts of fiery
judgement directed at sinners. Perhaps this is because any thought of accountability
is anathema to them. But they may fail to notice the reasons for such dramatic imagery.
Often the prophets were pointing out the failure of the people to treat one another
justly and equitably,[iv] with the powerful instead
choosing to oppress the weak, even to the point of theft and murder if they
thought they could get away with it. Examples may be found in David's taking of
Bathsheba, another man's wife, and the murder of her husband, or of Ahab who
was complicit in the murder of Naboth in order to steal his vineyard. People
can be ugly and cruel to one another and power and wealth only facilitate their
natural tendencies. Those with wealth and power who seek to use them to address
the needs of the impoverished stand out as exceptions. More commonly, whether
our relative wealth is small or great, we tend to be fixated on how many more
toys, how much more travel, or how much more real estate we can enjoy with
little thought given to those who are enduring suffering so that we can enjoy
those things. If we aspire to be the rich man in the parable of the rich man
and Lazarus,[v]
we will receive that rich man�s reward. While we may feel that because we are
not grossly wealthy, we have no such accountability, we should understand that
our attitude toward others who do not have what we do is the issue, not the
amount of our wealth. If we have two sandwiches and deny one to someone who has
none, we are that rich man. Anything we deny to another that we have the
ability to provide, no matter how large or how small, has the potential to put
us in the rich man's shoes.
Lest we forget though, this is not natural to us. We
resist it vehemently, and this is the reason behind so much political animosity
and divisiveness. The prophet Jeremiah puts it very plainly: "Can an Ethiopian
change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are
accustomed to doing evil." (Jeremiah 13:23) This is why we need a change of
heart, a change that only comes through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The
prophet Ezekiel tells us this comes from God. "I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give
you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26) What must we do for this change to take
place? Peter at Pentecost after Christ's ascension put it this way: "Repent and
be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness
of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) In
other words, we must recognize that we have been on a wrong course in the past,
acknowledge that error and ask God to set us on a proper course. He will then
provide the Holy Spirit as guide and mentor, and life will find meaning in love
and service. Only then can we avoid the rich man's reward, for only with God is
that possible.[vi]
