Jesus is shifting people away from an attachment to a deadly deity with a deadly ethic and toward a life-giving community of God with a loving ethic. “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.”
Jesus has multiplied and shared resources with thousands of people. He identifies with the multiplication and sharing, “I am the bread of life.” It is a statement able to be made by all persons who are shifting from a deadly ethic centered around control to a life-giving ethic centered around caring. Caring is the basis of economics. Economics is derived from the Greek ‘oikos’ and refers to care of the home. We give care to our personal home, including care for the products and energy we use. We give care as well as our larger neighborhood home, giving care to the energy and spaces we share. Economics also refers to care for our common home, the earth. We are considerate of how we care for all of nature, how we care for the energy and resources and space shared with us. David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy, asserts we are diminished in our care of our home, diminished in our sharing because we are ruled by “unfettered capitalism,” which is “devoted to growing the fortunes of billionaires without regard for the consequences for the living Earth and most of Earth’s inhabitants.” Korten says “contemporary economics is more accurately known as ego-nomics” – the Latin word for “I.” Capitalism encourages us to “idolize financial predators” who use us for their interests. Ego-nomics should be relegated to “history courses reviewing the devastating consequences” of capitalism. We are faced with great challenges because of capitalism’s devastating lack of care for the Earth and Earth’s inhabitants. It is killing us and our earth. It’s single most important challenge for us is to “sustain life.” We can replace our love of money and those who plunder us and the Earth to gain it, with “mutual care in our relationships with other people and the living Earth.” Korten asserts the new eco-nomics calls us to a variety of changes nationally. All of which are rooted locally in “people power,” “democratically self-managed communities and markets foundational to an ecological civilization. Realizing this alternative will require that financial assets are equitably distributed to assure that responsibilities for making significant decisions are truly shared.” It is the economic sharing of Jesus. It is the economic sharing of local worker co-operatives, credit unions, farmers markets, Mom and Pop businesses, youth environmental activities, and so much more in which local people power are sustaining life. Korten asserts, “We are not dealing with a broken system in need of repair. We are dealing with a failed system in need of replacement.” We can come together to co-create care of the home. It is the eco-nomics we need.
“If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore (… this earth and) the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.” (Paul Hawken)
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, keep us caring.
Question: What am I helping to restore?
August 11, 2024 John 6:41-51 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time