The Forgotten Common Good

 

The Forgotten Common Good

 

“A certain ruler asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to obtain eternal life?” Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except the one God. You know the commandments: Don’t commit adultery. Don’t murder. Don’t steal. Don’t give false testimony. Honor your father and mother.” Then the ruler said, “I’ve kept all of these things since I was a boy.” When Jesus heard this, he said, “There’s one more thing. Sell everything you own and distribute the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.” When he heard these words, the man became sad because he was extremely rich.” (Luke 18:18-23 CEB))

If you have spent any time in church, undoubtedly you have heard sermons and teachings on the text of the Rich Young Ruler (described elsewhere as young and rich). This interaction of Jesus is particularly hard for many of us to understand, when we come from a social location where we are among the most resourced people in the history of the world.  Most of the Bible’s original audiences were oppressed by the empires of their times, and were under resourced people whose daily life was marked by tremendous amount of struggle. Theologian Lisa Sharon Harper (Still Evangelical, 2018) asks:

“Here is the critical question: Is it possible for someone who lives, breathes, and interprets Scripture from the social location of empire to understand a book written entirely from the underside of empire—written by and for oppressed peoples?”

 Yep, we represent the most powerful empire of our time. I know that many people reading this don’t feel like you are part of a power-wielding empire as you struggle to pay the costs of daily living. However, in empires with tremendous wealth, the wealth is rarely distributed equally. One of the consistent biblical critiques against empires, is that they are marked by a culture of greed, exploitation, and injustice (Amos chap 3-5 as an example). When we read this story, we usually equate the ruler with people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or a member of the Walton family who have incredible wealth, but the average American has access to resources that a majority of the world has been denied. I use the word “resourced” rather than wealthy, because it is a better descriptor of what wealth really implies: access to resources that allow flourishing. While few of us are millionaires, most Americans have access to the necessities of life, and regularly accept this as a right, rather than a privilege.

American families average about $70,900 per year while the world on average earns about $9700 per year, and the vast majority of families making less than $2000 per year. I recently visited the nation of Malawi where the average annual income is about $600 per year, and most residents do not have access to running water, telephones, or education beyond elementary school. I share this so that you will have a sense of the incredible treasure of resources that are available to most Americans that is not available in many places in the world.

It is not sinful to be a citizen of an empire any more than it was to be part of the Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, or the Soviet Union.  Despite our many flaws, I love being a citizen of the United States.  The Bible encourages to be responsible citizens where ever we are. What the Bible warns us regarding empire is that they tend to distort our understanding of reality, which informs the development of warped and idolatrous frameworks for living out our faith. South African Theologian Allan Boesak (Pharaohs on Both Sides of the Blood-Red Waters, 2022) explains how authentic movements of God naturally resist the effects of empire:

“The cry ringing across the world is resistance against empire because it reveals truth. Mendacity [deception or lying] is the life-blood of empires. Empires cannot live without it. It lies about itself, about the realities of oppression, domination and subjugation. It lies about the people: not just about what the people need, but about what the people deserve and are entitled to. It proclaims that whatever is good for the empire is good for the world.”

The result is that the power of empire begins to fuse our understanding of what is good for the world and what is actually in the best interest of empire. Christian Philospher Pascal said that “Being unable to cause might to obey justice, men have made it just to obey might.”  Anabaptist Theologian Drew Hart (Who Will Be A Witness, 2020) explains how empire conflates its interests as the desires of God.

“In the United States today, Christian politics is frequently oriented toward God and country fusions, with coercive top-down legislation of perceived Christian morality, while neglecting justice for the poor and the common good of all people. Too often, the church serves as a puppet and mascot for the empire’s interests rather than as a prophetic voice that conceives of the gap between our social order and God’s future world.”

In our ridiculously polarized political season, we see ad after ad promoting individual prosperity over the common good. Government is reframed to be a service to provide advantage for your personal prosperity than collaboration to provide resources for the common good. 

Meanwhile in our text, Jesus has a conversation with someone we know as well-resourced in his day. When the man asks Jesus how to obtain eternal life, Jesus responds by saying to do the things required by the law and lists a few of its requirements. Of note, Jesus points out the relational obligations in his list, which the man states that he has been honoring. This list reveals the divine expectations for the people of God in our individual responses to our neighbors, family, and spouses. Yet Jesus is not satisfied with individual acts of piety towards others. He expands to tell the Rich man that the blessing is in reflecting the character of God by sacrificially giving to the poor, for their common good. Can you see the pivot? Jesus is telling him that his perspective of personal piety as an expression of Kingdom living is incomplete. But the hallmark of the Kingdom of God, is humility that stewards opportunities, resources, and relationships for the common good of the entire community. 

In the early church, we find the community was marked by generosity and sacrificial loving for the common good:

A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.  And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity. (Acts 2:43-46 NLT)

The rapid expansion of Christianity in the first 4 centuries of its existence was not due to an emphasis on evangelism, but because of the public witness of Christians who sacrificially served the broader community despite persecution and being misunderstood(See Krieder, Patient Ferment of the Early Church, 2019). Caring for people in the worst plagues at great risk, was noted by Roman officials, well before the Constantine adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Empire.

The well-resourced man who engaged with Jesus was to distribute his resources to those who lack those resources, without qualification of their worthiness. The man was to reflect the generosity of God, not simply to Sadducees (a political affiliation), those who were born in Israel (nationality and ethnicity), those who had never been enslaved (socioeconomic status), or even those who were ceremonially clean (Religious in-group). He was simply told to distribute resources to the poor. Jesus does not reject the man because of his wealth, but the man rejects (or at least resents) Jesus because Jesus is calling him to steward his wealth for the common good. The man, we find, goes away saddened because he understood generosity as personal loss as opposed to community gain, which Jesus describes as heavenly treasure.

Back to contemporary politics, Pastor and Author Brian McLaren (Faith after Doubt, 2021) says this in respect to the political approach to the common good:

“Every authoritarian political, corporate, familial, or religious abuser capitalize on the logic of authority to consolidate their abusive power [and resources].  And everyone one of us has at some point used the logic of liberty to absolve ourselves of responsibility for the common good, maximizing liberty for me and us at the expense of liberty for you or them.”

In that mindset, anything that threatens your personal prosperity, even if its for the common good, is labeled pejoratively. Contrasting with Jesus, who often saw those those who suffered as a means by which to demonstrate the glory of God (Jn 9:1-3), contemporary politics promotes self interest above the needs of those in your broader community. Indigenous educator, Dr. Twyla Baker, President of Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College (Tribal College of the affiliated tribes of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation) describes the bondage that comes with choosing self-interest over the common good:

“People [most Americans] have never been free of the handcuffs of greed, self-interest, and individualism. Their systems shackle them but they are so pitiful and poor that they mistake it for freedom.”

We, well-resourced like the man in Jesus’ story, are often captive to dangerous empire-shaped narratives that inform our understanding of what Jesus prioritizes. The “rich ruler” prioritized self-interest, while Jesus continually yielded his privilege for the betterment of others, ultimately giving his life for the world. 

Pastor Michael Waters, from the African Methodist Episcopal Church points out that our inability to focus on the common good of the nation and the planet, comes from an idolatrous image of God (How to Heal Our Divides, 2021):

“When our god is a manifestation of our unsubstantiated fears and greed, we follow a god shaped and formed exclusively to serve our own callous interests, as opposed to the God who shapes and forms us as a reflection of Godself to care for the concerns of others.”

Ultimately, Jesus wants his followers to reflect his character. The last description that Jesus himself used for the church was that of “witness”. Witnesses were not just those   who “saw” what Jesus did, but those who embody and experience who Jesus is.  When we promote self-interest over the common good and claim to be followers of Jesus, we reveal that we have been more formed by the gods of empire (individualism, consumerism, and fear), than Jesus who is life-giving and loving. 

I pray that we have a burden for the world as we see as others as interconnected, knowing that the wellbeing of others is ultimately always connected to you in some way or another.  Jesus condemned his own followers who did not see the least and the marginalized, by stating that when they didn’t consider the common good for all, that they also ignored him as well.  Let us fulfil our calling to be witnesses of Jesus’s heart for the common good.