“…and
the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.” (Amos 6:7b)
When
I was a kid I had two great pals—Scott and John. These were the dark, prehistoric
olden days before the advent of video games. Our competitive recreation took
the form of the board game Monopoly. I recently learned this antique
pastime was invented back in 1903 by a lady named Lizzie Magie as a way to
teach young people about the dangers of concentrated wealth and the virtues of
a just system of taxation. Ms. Magie created the game with two sets of rules. In
one version there was no taxation or shared wealth, and in the other was an
anti-monopolist system in which all players were rewarded when wealth was
created.[i] For most of it’s existence,
however, the good folks at Parker Brothers and later Hasbro, the toy companies
which now own the rights to the game, have offered only one version. Scott and
John and I, like millions of other American kids of our generation, grew up
playing Monopoly and learning its lessons of ruthless, rapacious greed.
As
I look at American society today, I get a queasy feeling that we’re turning
into one giant game of Monopoly. We’re like the rich man and Lazarus whom
our Lord describes in the parable the Revised Common Lectionary has chosen for
Pentecost 16, Year C (Luke 16:19-31). There’s a great chasm fixed between the
haves and the have nots, and it’s growing wider every day. Some folks are
passing “GO” at cyclonic speed while the rest of us can’t even find “FREE
PARKING.” And don’t get me started on the cost of rent, utilities, and
transportation.
Of
course, American capitalism has one basic difference from a game of Monopoly:
In Monopoly, everyone starts out equal. Not so in real life. Some of us
inherit money. Some have better ideas. Some live in more favorable locations
and are in the right place at the right time. Some work harder, some are
smarter, some are more physically able. And some of us are disabled,
historically marginalized, are undereducated, oar have limited opportunities. The
American economy never starts out like a game of Monopoly, but, if we don’t
course correct, it will surely end like one—with someone having all and all
others having nothing.
Our
Gospel lesson for Pentecost 16 is a stern warning. Unlike the ambiguous parable
of the previous week (Luke 16:1-13), Jesus is being a lot more direct in his
messaging. I don’t think he’s trying to tell us that rich people are all going
to go to Hell. Wealth in and of itself is not necessarily evil; nevertheless,
it is the insatiable desire for accumulation which brings about God’s wrath,
and woe to us if we fail to recognize this.
The
rich man in the parable knows Lazarus by name. He can’t plead ignorance. He’s
known there’s a poor man at his gate, but he doesn’t care at all about this man’s
hunger—even though he has the means to assuage it. Is Lazarus even human
to him? Even while roasting in the flames of his eternal punishment, this self-absorbed
plutocrat still sees Lazarus as an underling. “Send Lazarus to dip the tip of
his finger in water and cool my tongue” he says to Abraham. He seems incapable
of recognizing Lazarus as a brother. It’s his indifference to Lazarus’
suffering which has brought about his condemnation.
The
rich man also has enough to feed Lazarus. Lazarus could feast from the scraps
which fall from the rich man’s table. This is excessive consumption. Why
would anyone amass more provisions than he needs? Some have classified this appetite
for excessive wealth as a form of addiction. It’s almost a pathological need to
acquire more and more. If you just can’t seem to get rich enough, you
have no appreciation for the resources you already possess. The rich man isn’t condemned
merely for a lack of compassion. He is also condemned for an arrogant lack of
gratitude.
The
proper response to all of this, of course, would be empathy and appreciation.
We might not be able to fix the world’s problems on our own, but we need to be
aware such problems exist. We are called upon to love our neighbor and reach
out in whatever way we feel able to the ones outside the gate. Almsgiving is a
spiritual discipline—not just for individuals but for the Church as an institution.
If we become obsessed with hoarding for survival, we are missing the point of
why the Church should exist at all.
Faith
teaches all of us to be aware of the continuous blessings of God. We can always
afford to be generous when we consider how God has provided. Faith creates
gratitude, and gratitude creates joy, and joy creates a generous spirit.
This
parable is a warning. We have Moses and the prophets and even a Savior who did
rise from the dead. They’ve told us how we should live and how we should
regard the resources entrusted to us. Simply, we are all our brother’s keepers.
We are called to keep watchful eyes out for how wealth is viewed and used in
our society. In the end, this isn’t a game, and we can’t be passively
submissive to the roll of the dice.
[i]
See the Wikipedia article on the game here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game)#History
No comments:
Post a Comment