The Kingdom, Idolatry, and the 1%

Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us,
     for we have had more than enough of contempt. 
Our soul has had more than its fill
     of the scorn of those who are at ease,
     of the contempt of the proud.    Psalm 123:3-4

Perhaps you've seen the news reports that have come out recently. One says that by 2016, 1% of the world's population will control more than 50% of the world's wealth. Another says that 80 people now have wealth equal to that of the bottom half (economically speaking) of the world's population. A group of people who could fit in a large room now have more money than the 3.5 billion people with the least.

I am quite confident that such a situation is not at all pleasing to God. After all, God's prophets regularly fume against the wealthy, especially those with little concern for the poor. Jesus, who was very much in tune with the prophets, goes so far as to say, "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." (And don't let anyone fool you into believing that this statement about a camel doesn't mean exactly what it seems to.)

It speaks of a great failure in the Church's witness that we are often more associated with things Jesus never taught (hatred of gays and peoples of other faiths, distrust of science, and connection to conservative politics to name a few) than we are with his actual teachings. Many get all worked up over labels - Keep Christ in Christmas - without worrying very much about actually following Jesus as a disciple. Again Jesus' own words are instructive. "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." And Jesus says this right after teachings on loving enemies and not storing up treasure on earth.

In today's reading from Isaiah, the prophet makes light of those who trust in idols, who bow before things of their own making and say, “Save me, for you are my god!” All of us are prone to trusting in things that are not God, but great wealth makes certain sorts of idolatry even more tempting. There is the wealth itself, of course, but even more, there is the notion of being one's own god. I am constantly amazed at wealthy folk who insist that their wealth is all their own doing. Conversely, they say, other people's misfortune is their own doing. Combine such veneration of self with denigration of others, and you could not get much further from the kingdom, from God's  hope and dream of a restored world.

O God, we have had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud. Have mercy, God. Show us the promise of your kingdom once more.

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