A rich man is told by Jesus, “’Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply,” “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
How easy it is for those who have wealth to live in the kingdom of Caesar. The wealthy have devised the kingdom of Caesar for their ease and are masters at living easy in it. Their storied pomp blights human history. Those who have wealth in the U.S. have had an especially easy time of it for the last 40 years, from Ronald Reagan onward. A recently released groundbreaking study by Carter C. Price and Kathryn Edwards, Trends in Income, shows how the wealthy have their ease as a result of their usual theft, outright direct robbery. The authors show how for 40 years the wealth class stole $50 trillion dollars belonging to the people. By the authors’ financial calculations of the plunder done these last 40 years, every single U.S. worker could have earned in every single month an additional $1,144. It would have meant an additional $13,728 every single year for each of us and $549,120 overall for every one of us. The U.S. master class lives with ease from their systemic theft: through the Republic political system they control with money that ensures “Corporations are people” while also ensuring there is no tax fairness or campaign finance reform or voter integrity or universal health care; through the Capitalist financial system they control as a casino, ensuring the house always wins at unregulated speculation at the banking table, unrestrained gambling at the stock market wheel, and unlimited wagers at capitalism’s poker game that bets on unlivable wages, impossible debt repayment interest rates, and weakened social services; through Militarism’s religious system they control as a cult breeding so many priesthoods for us to obey, as a creed convincing us to accept our suffering as justly deserved, and as a code coercing us to sanctify all the violations dispensed at their hands. The kingdom of Caesar is thousands of years making life so very hard and so very deadly for all of humanity. As deadly a virus as Covid is, more deadly is the virus of capitalism. Its infection and deadliness, spread by those who have wealth across history and the world, is less publicized yet so very visible. Capitalists with all their storied pomp crafted institutional christianity as a subsidiary of the kingdom of Caesar, and have practiced it well in this U.S. kingdom of Caesar. Ronald Reagan did. So too most Republicans. For example, wealthy GOP Bible study pastor Ralph Drollinger, “Free Market Capitalism is God’s blueprint for growing a nation’s economy.” How hard it is for those who have wealth to witness Jesus’ Community of God. “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Caesar’s kingdom is replaced by the people’s community. So too political exploitation is replaced by conscientious democracy. So too addictions to money or other passing wants and the financial manipulations that ensue are replaced by sharing for the benefit of the common good. So too theological idolatry of vices such as killing and imperialism are replaced by virtues such as healing and peacemaking. And thus, how hard it is for those who have wealth, who live in storied pomp, to co-create a community of people who share democracy, the common good, a common morality.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.” (The New Colossus – Emma Lazarus)
Prayer: Spirit, keep us at ease with sharing.
Question: How can I give away more of my possessions or share more than I presently do?
October 10, 2021 Gospel Luke 17:11-19 Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time