Sharing in a world of greed and violence

There is a saying that you can tell a lot about a person by the company he or she keeps. Somehow or other, the values and interests of those you are constantly surrounded will rub off on you.

Apr 04, 2019

By Anil Netto
There is a saying that you can tell a lot about a person by the company he or she keeps. Somehow or other, the values and interests of those you are constantly surrounded will rub off on you.

This is also true in politics. You can tell a lot about a politician by the company he or she keeps. Before an election, during a relatively short campaign period, a politician will rub shoulders with voters from dawn to dusk, faithfully visiting markets, coffee shops, restaurants and festival ceremonies. The candidate will shake hands with voters and take the trouble to find out their concerns.

But once in office, the tendency is to meet businessmen, bankers, investors and developers, almost every day. That is when the politician might absorb the values of those in the world of business and finance, the accumulation of wealth and be obsessed with “economic growth”. He or she might unwittingly start speaking in their language or worse, reflecting their concerns in official statements and pronouncements. It is the language of money, power, capital and mega projects.

We often pride ourselves as being part of a peaceful civilised society. But often that is an illusion. Sometimes it might feel like we are in a cage, blinded by technology and the trappings of modernity, amused by entertainment and sporting distractions, so that we fail to discern what really matters.

Empowering individuals, reaching out to the marginalised, touching lives, promoting compassion and love is what Jesus showed us to live life to the fullest. In his day, civilisation was in a state of flux, with the Roman and Hellenistic influence and trappings of modernity evident. But all kinds of taxes were imposed and channelled to Rome, leaving many parts of the empire suffering, including taxes to build imperial temples and fortresses.

But all kinds of taxes were imposed, including taxes to build imperial temples and fortresses. These taxes were channelled to Rome, leaving many parts of the empire suffering.

In a way this is not much different from the upward concentration of wealth in our world which sucks wealth out of the world into the hands of the few, leaving millions of workers struggling.

But Jesus sought out the weakest, the most oppressed, the despised, the shunned, the ostracised outsiders, and he partied with them, eating and drinking with them. This created quite the scandal in the conservative society of this time.

He sought out the marginalised and they followed him in droves.

His language of love, compassion and reconciliation created ripples in a world hardened by political, economic and military might. His language of sharing contrasted sharply with the worldly values of accumulation of wealth, forced acquisition, unfair wages and military conquests.

Jesus illustrated his commitment to the community with his first miracle in a community setting — the turning of water into wine — in Canaan. He took it one step further in the multiplication of loaves and fish. He used a little boy’s example of offering all the food he had — a simple act of solidarity with the wider community — to illustrate how a multitude could be fed.

Before he died, he left a lasting reminder to us about distributive justice in the breaking of bread – which symbolised his passion for a new kingdom that was far different from the Roman Empire or the worldly civilisations of today, which believes in accumulation and profiteering.

Inevitably this conflicting value system put him on a collision course with the prevailing powers of his day, culminating in Jesus’ fiery words in the Temple, when, he thundered, that had been turned into a den of thieves. The Temple was a focal point of the collaboration among Roman imperial rulers, local puppet kings, and the religious elite, and they did not take kindly to his idealism and passion — he had gone too far, they felt.

For his efforts, Jesus was punished with crucifixion — a punishment reserved for rebels. But through his resurrection, the Father vindicated his vision of a new kingdom and today the dream lives on. It is up to us to work to make it a reality in our world today.

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