Kingdom Economics

 Matthew 20:1-16 reflects Jesus' vision of Kingdom values regarding living wages.  It is an example of life beyond meritocracy, beyond capitalism (pre-dates it, in fact) and beyond the greed of Empire.  

Capitalism's iterations of empire have fed the few at the expense of the many for generations.  It is getting worse.  The income gaps are widening between the few that have most and the many who have very little.  Efforts are being made right now to enliven labor unions because of this, but since the desolating sacrilege of Reagan and Falwell, class war has been waged against the poor, labor class and middle class without answer.  Those who have wanted to return this nation to the robber baron days before our depression have been doing a great job of doing so, complete with crashes of the banking and real estate worlds as a result in recent decades.  Regular folk have lost much or most of what they had in recent decades, and no one has been held accountable for it.  It is the price of doing business with the ruthless purveyors of Capitalism under this Empire.

I must offer here that Jesus was not a communist or socialist.  The Gospels pre-date those systems by 1800 years.  Jesus was a humanist of God.  Jesus taught Agape Love as THE WAY to be faithful to God, and that Agape Love was to be applied in EVERY arena and aspect of life together, including economics.  The teachings, parables, commands and examples of Jesus clearly call for those who would follow Him to take care of "the least," and this parable calls us to a different system of distribution to one based on need instead of merit, greed or ruthless corruption.  

This is an example of Kingdom values to be followed by any who would follow Jesus in their lives - stock brokers who would follow Jesus, stockholders who would follow Jesus, executives who would follow Jesus, owners who would follow Jesus, taxpayers who would follow Jesus, economists who would follow Jesus, laborers who would follow Jesus. voters who would follow Jesus and politicians who would follow Jesus.  If any who claim Jesus' name would live this example of Kingdom values in economics, it would change not only the lives of God's children in our country that lives under the ruthless power of empire, but the lives of God's children across the whole world who suffer under it.

Jesus made a promise at the end of this parable for all who struggle under empire's fat, over-paid, greedy, ruthless, gluttonous thumb - "The last will be first, and the first will be last."  This will not last forever.  God will turn it around.  In the meantime, if we are to be faithful to the God who will restore justice under Kingdom values, we must live those values by following what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us to live in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now. 

This parable reflects Jesus' teaching on God's Will regarding economics, along with countless others from Deuteronomy, the Prophets and other sacred texts before Jesus, teachings that Rabbi Jesus knew and came to fulfill. 

Addendum: I love Democracy.  I value Democracy.  I do not love Capitalism.  I do not value it.  Contrary to popular belief among the adherence to American Civil Religion and its lord, Capitalism is not Democracy and Democracy is not Capitalism.  We need a more just, equitable and loving system that is humanistic and thus faithful to the Agape Love commanded by Jesus, thus faithful to God.

What you give and what you receive...

 Matthew 18:21-35

Forgiveness is hard.  It is especially hard when folk believe they are entitled to belittle, discriminate against or harm us.  It is hard when others who do so are unrepentant.  It is hard when those who treat us shamefully have no shame in doing so.  It is hard especially when we are healthy enough to believe that we deserve better than that from others.

But it is possible to believe that we deserve to be treated with respect, equity, equality and justice, and still to recognize that others make mistakes, look errantly at how they need to live in the world because of their own past traumas, and are operating out of their own pain.  Empathy for the trespasser can be difficult, and it takes some humility, but it also can be helpful for us.  It helps us understand that we, ourselves are capable of great good in others' lives and great evil to them.  It helps us to understand that we are not perfect either and that we each need to BE forgiven when we hurt others.  It helps us to see the value of forgiveness itself.

Forgiveness is the thing.  In order to understand it, we must grasp the importance of being forgiving of others when they sin against us, as much as we grasp the need for us to be forgiven when we sin against others.  Sin, breeches in trust, love, civility, respect, justice and integrity touch us all.  We need to be forgiven for our breeches that hurt others, and we must be forgiving of others for their breeches that hurt us.  

Refusing to forgive is truly like "swallowing a burning coal and expecting that to hurt the other."  In refusing to forgive, we carry around within us such a mass of malignant toxic sludge that it cannot help but powerfully affect our relationships with others who have not wronged us.  Forgiveness is for the sake of the forgiver.

Refusing to forgive is also an act of hatred and not love toward another person who is capable of sinning just as we are, hoping to inflict pain on those who need forgiveness.  Forgiveness is for the sake of the forgiven.

The parable of the unforgiving servant illustrates this, and the problem of someone who believes that he/she/they deserves to be forgiven but has no need to be forgiving of others.  

Forgiveness does not always come instantly, even when it is sometimes declared quickly.  It can take a long time to bring oneself to forgive others, even oneself for breeches of trust, love, civility, respect, justice and integrity.  Doing the soul-searching work and bringing oneself to forgiveness, regardless of how much it takes to do so, can relieve everyone in a relationship of further pain.

Matthew's Jesus commands us not to judge because we are not qualified to be judges of others.  We are capable of the same sins that they are capable of in this life, as is illustrated by the "log in the eye" simile.  We are reminded that "the measure (we) give is the measure we will receive" (see also Luke 6:37, 38 on how forgiveness is the same).

Forgiveness comes of Love, Grace and Mercy.  Jesus is of Love, Grace and Mercy.  If we are people of Jesus' Way we will be of Love, Grace and Mercy as well.  Forgiveness is commanded because it is an act of Grace (undeserved loving mercy given freely) and Agape Love (active commitment on behalf of the other, even stranger or enemy).

To value forgiveness, be must value both being forgiven and being forgiving.  To be followers of Jesus, we must see the value of forgiveness and strive to live it genuinely in our lives. 

Integrity and Civility in Conflict

 Matthew 18;15-20

I only knew ONE pastor who actually did this, in order, during a problem of a few people gossiping in a very hurtful way about a single mom in his Methodist Church.  The congregation when through all the steps with him and two of the three perpetrators left the church, while the third repented.  A year later, the pastor was asked to leave during a congregational meeting.

We do not do conflict well in our culture or our churches within the culture, partly because our churches reflect rather than address the culture. In the age of social media, it is way too easy to find things over which to have conflict with folks.  In our communities, we are much more prone to talk about people with others rather than to them when we have a conflict, and even more likely to "gather forces" of agreement around us, rather than take our issue to a person directly.  We do not seek objective persons to mediate in such conflicts.  No one believes that ANYONE is objective anymore.

Tribalism rules in 'muriKKKa.  If a person is of "our tribe," they are never wrong and we will fight like Hell to prove it.  If a person is either the accuser or the accused of another tribe, they must be wrong.  It is as true in our churches as it is in our culture.

Conflicts are common, but we are so tribal we cannot see ANY person or body as being unbiased or unprejudiced enough to help parties reach a solution.  That is a problem.

It takes civility to understand and empathize with two parties in conflict.  Each may have valid points, and our goal must always be to end conflicts through civil means.  The civility of the neutral party is to bring cooler heads and hearts to prevail in conflicts.  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."  Children of God value peace.

It takes integrity to go through mediation in conflict, integrity to consider the other party's perspectives and integrity to abide by the resolution to the conflict.  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."  To see God, we must be people of integrity.

Empire's ways of greed for more wealth than others, lust for power over others and desire for status above others destroys integrity, civility, compassion and empathy.  It is destroying ours because we ARE empire.  Jesus taught us to resist empire's ways and specifically to live differently from empire's way.  That is true in conflicts as well as in every other interaction with one another in our society.  If we want to be called "children of God," and see God, we will be people of integrity, civility, compassion and empathy.  If we are those people, the whole world will benefit.