Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 138

Thus says the LORD the God of hosts:
 Woe to the complacent in Zion!
 Lying upon beds of ivory,
 stretched comfortably on their couches,
 they eat lambs taken from the flock,
 and calves from the stall!

Anthropologist Agustin Fuentes, in his book The Creative Spark, speculates that economic and class divisions among humans began when we learned to corral animals and cultivate seeds, roughly 10,000 bce. Until that time, our ancestors gathered what plant food they could find as they followed migrating prey. 

With farming and breeding came settlements and cities, storage of food, and records. But keeping and reading records took time, effort, and study especially as different cities developed different forms of writing, and then compared their results. Very quickly a class of writers, readers and bureaucrats emerged. They developed methods for preserving and storing food; distributed it to the populace as needed; and, by the way, fed their own families first. Rivalries developed between city dwellers and rural folk; they depended on each other but neither class was always trustworthy. 

Languages were fluid as traders and armies carried words, ideas, and philosophies from place to place, but farming and breeding evolved more slowly. Rural knowledge was traditional, passed from parent to child; while urban fashions and cultures in the denser cities changed rapidly. Religion was more systematic in the city where people discussed their differences, while country people trusted the old gods without criticism or skepticism. 

By the ninth century bce, in Israel, the stratification of society was ancient and entrenched. Wealthy people lie "upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches" while their servants toiled. In the three millennia since, the chasm has only grown deeper. Despite the romantic, uncritical dreams of nerds, new technologies only makes matters worse. We've seen little progress since the onset of the computer age, and social media has only heightened tensions.  

Critics declare, "This isn't right!" But, if the powerful must sometimes agree, they cannot compromise their own security -- which grows more rigid and brittle by the day. They cannot imagine a leveling of society by redistribution of resources, opportunity, education, and health care. 

In fact, there is a plausible theory that if all the world's financial capital were to disappear overnight, there would be only a temporary crisis. Within a very short time, because the skills and connections remained unequal, order would be restored quickly. The same people would be in their familiar places; with the wealthy again growing wealthier; and the poor, poorer -- as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.

The Hebrew prophets appeared along with the cities and the monarchy in ancient Israel. God's chosen people should be different, they said. God's holy city should welcome and provide for needy widows, orphans, and aliens. Jerusalem should be a beacon model to neighboring cities of how to conduct business equitably. There would be no violence for there would be no economic gap or class difference. And there would be neither famine, plague, or military threat for the LORD would provide complete security. 

Jesus's story of the rich man and Lazarus fits the ancient tradition of protest with a direct reference to "Moses and the prophets." He contributes only the ironic, "...neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"

After the world has seen the Son of God rise from the dead, there can be no further warning, for the final hour has come, and the death blow of sin has fallen. Our salvation is complete. The condemned might complain it's not fair, and that they were never warned, but the Judge has ruled: "It is fair and you were warned." 

The Spirit of God, given to the chosen people, is wise to human shortsightedness and vulnerability. That Spirit cultivates awareness, rationality, deliberation, justice, and mercy. It encourages trustworthy fellowships which think things through, anticipates consequences with the understanding not all can be foreseen, and acts confidently. If nine of ten actors trust one another, they can deal with the untrustworthy one. 

The wise learn from experience and do not forget the past. They especially remember the mighty works of God who is faithful to his promises and threats. And they listen to the One who has risen from the dead.