In the book of Acts while visiting the Macedonian city of Philippi the apostle Paul and his colleague Silas are beaten by a mob, whipped by city officials and thrown into jail. Their crime was healing a slave girl of the demon possession that allowed her to tell fortunes in the market place (Acts 16:16-40). Her owner objected to the healing of the slave girl because it took away from his profits.
The story contains an extraordinary scene as the two missionaries, beaten and chained in the Philippi jail, are praying and singing hymns together. Miraculously an earthquake breaks open the jail and their chains. Before the jailer can commit suicide, due to his failure to keep the prison secure, Paul and Silas intervene on his behalf saving his life. Paul and Silas are freed, the jailer takes them home to clean and feed them; then he and his family are baptized.
Was this a first century version of "Occupy Philippi"? Were Paul and Silas trying to make a public point of the inequality and injustice of institutional slavery? Probably not. Paul and Silas were more concerned about the evil possessing this young woman and making a public demonstration of the redemptive power of Jesus.
Then again the proclamation of the Reign of God has always had economic implications.
There are strong traditions of private capital and personal wealth in the biblical record. As there are strong traditions expressing concern for justice and equitable access to and control over the means of production.
The Hebrew traditions of Sabbatical set a 7-8 year cycle of land use by owners and insisted that the poor and disposed be given free access to harvest surplus (Ex 23:10-11, Lev 25:1-7, 20-22, Deut 15:1-6, 31:10-13). The Jubilee set a 50 year cycle when land ownership would return to its original status and all people would have equal access to the means of food production, and all debts would be forgiven (Lev 25:10, 23; 27:2). Both traditions assumed that a minority of people would use their time and talents to create wealth while the majority poor would be assured the basic necessities in dignity and fairness.
There is no historical evidence that the Jubilee tradition was ever practiced.
Yet as we listen to Jesus in the Christian scriptures, we can clearly hear the echo of these ideals.
18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
(Luke 4, quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2; 58:6)
"The year of the Lord's favor..." refers to the Jubilee tradition which by Jesus' time also referred to the hope for the End of the World. It was the expectation of the Hebrew people in the first century that at the End of Time God would liberate the Holy Land from Roman occupation as well as restore the fortunes of the oppressed and downtrodden. That is why Mary joyfully sings of the impending birth of the messiah, "....the hungry shall be fed and the rich sent empty away...".
The story of Paul and Silas illustrates a central point in Jesus' teaching. People are more important than profits.
-To illustrate the radical nature of grace, Jesus tells a parable in which a land owner pays a worker the same daily rate for an hour of work as the owner pays a worker who has labored all day (Mt 20:1-16).
-Irate that the money changers have taken over the courtyard of the Jerusalem Temple Jesus turns their tables over in a violent protest against the corruption that limits access to worship privileges by class (Mk 21:12-17).
-Jesus invites himself to dine with Zacchaeus, who has grown rich by collecting taxes for the Roman occupation government (Luke 19:1-10). The pious see Zacchaeus as a traitor and sinner yet Jesus is not only willing to eat with Zacchaeus but to forgive him, the result of which is a reversal of fortunes for the tax collector and the collected.
People are more important than profits.
In a pastoral prayer not too long ago Pastor Dirk Damonte said, "....oh God help us to imagine ourselves the way You imagine us....".
For some reason the "Occupy Wall Street" scene flashed through my mind. Here's a group of people, becoming a movement, that knows something is wrong in a society that allows, encourages and tolerates the enormous inequality in the distribution of its wealth. And the Occupy movement feels empowered to say it. What their dream is for the future, how they imagine it, doesn't appear clear at this point but they know it’s got to be better than the future that human society is producing now.
The God worshiped and adored in the Judeo-Christian tradition has a compelling imagination, especially for our future.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9)
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11)
My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors. (Luke 1)
These are but a few of an entire tradition in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures that imagines the future of the human society with recurrent themes:
-no war and violence
-the inequalities between the rich and the poor will be addressed and reversed
-social systems such as financial institutions, courts and government will be just, with access to all, not just the privileged
-those who have been marginalized will experience healing and hope
However we understand these traditions there is no escaping that within the biblical record at least, God imagines a future where human society lives in peace, equality and justice. Although framed in metaphor with apocalyptic personalities and implications, this future is also historic, to be played out in this world, in human time.
On paper the world is a much better place than it was a century ago and positively ideal compared to a 1,000 years ago. Today our wars "only" kill and maim in the thousands rather than the millions. "Only" 24,000 mainly women and children die of hunger related disease each day now compared to 40,000 just 25 years ago. Most of the world's governments are democracies or include democratic institutions to greater or lesser degrees compared to a handful just 100 years ago. The global per capita income distribution has increased dramatically in the last century, especially with growing middle class populations in China and India, the two largest nations by population.
The world is a much better place than it was.
Yet as a member of earth's privileged class that is easy for me to say. The statistical truth of such a statement gives me little comfort. Admonitions to the "only" to be patient, to work harder, study more may be realistic but seem painfully trite if not outrageous when 20% of the world's 7 billion people live on $1 a day. My conclusions about the state of the world must be framed within my social status. I do not know what it is like to go to bed at night not knowing if my children will eat tomorrow...or if they will be collateral damage in someone else's war.
Jesus and the tradition on which he stood didn't condemn private wealth per se but the greed and corruption that restricts fair access to and control over the wealth that belongs ultimately only to God. It is greed that has driven the global economy to the verge of collapse; as governments have set policies to ensure their power rather than sound economics; as the financial elite have rigged the system of capital exchange for their own benefit at the expense of others.
And it is greed that allows a slave owner to keep a slave girl in the market place telling fortunes for his profits at the expense of her soul.
Paul and Silas were not in the Philippi marketplace to advance their version of the Occupy Movement. Yet their miracle story confronts the spiritual reality of economic injustice.
Doesn't it confront ours as well?
Do we imagine a future of peace, justice and equality where all human societies have enough? Do we share God's dream for us, God's imaging of what we might become? Or have we reduced our dream to the boundaries of what’s possible for 'me and mine and forget the rest'?