Bread is for sharing

Texts: Proverbs 22.1-2, 8-9, 22-23; James 2.1-17; Mark 7.24-37 

Today’s readings make two basic points, I suggest: (1) that God himself pleads the case of the poor against the rich; and (2) that the rich therefore have a responsibility to share what they have with the poor.  

According to the wisdom tradition represented by the reading from Proverbs, material riches are worth very little unless they are shared with those who lack such things.  Indeed, Proverbs argues that there can be only two paths in life:  to become rich by treating others with injustice, therefore attracting God’s displeasure; or to live generously and therefore attract God’s generosity.  “Which path are you on?” asks the text of its hearers.  Are you the one who treats others, especially the most vulnerable members of the community, as an exploitable source of cash for one’s personal bank account? Or are you someone who believes that wealth is a gift from God that should be shared from the beginning, such that the accumulation of wealth beyond the point of one’s basic needs becomes completely pointless?  

These are questions that also confronted the Christian church where James, the brother of Jesus, was the pastor.  We read this morning from a letter that records some of his most incisive sermons.  There we read about a church that has not yet been converted to the radical economic egalitarianism of the Jesus movement.  It is a church that betrays that fact by fawning over the rich and neglecting the poor, even amongst its own membership.  James reminds the church members that they must put their faith into action if they are to experience the true liberty of the children of God:  faith in a God who is merciful, who has promised his kingdom to those who, while materially poor, are rich in faith.  “Show me that you really believe in God’s mercy,” says James, “show me by being merciful yourselves.”  What James implies here is that it is extremely difficult, perhaps even impossible, to be at once rich in faith and rich in things.  Those who are rich in faith, he seems to be saying, are those who embody Christ’s mercy by sharing their material possessions so completely that there can be little prospect of ever becoming rich as an economist would measure such things.

Of course, if we bring all this back home for a moment, one must ask the question ‘who are the rich, and who are the poor in our own place and time?’  The economists and social policy analysts would answer that poverty has pretty much the same profile anywhere.  Whether one lives in India or Australia, the poor are those who really struggle to eat nutritious meals, to find shelter or to clothe themselves.  The poor are those who cannot access adequate employment.  The poor are those who, if they get sick, cannot afford to access adequate health-care.  The poor are those whose lives are filled with so much toil that education and leisure pursuits are regarded as little more than luxuries.  The poor are those who die relatively young.  On these measures, the poorest Australians are usually Aboriginal people, or people with a long-term illness or disability, or people who care for such people over a long period of time.

Who are the rich, then, or perhaps it would be better to ask ‘who are those who are well-resourced?’  Well, having read a recent report on the matter from UnitingCare, let me suggest the following.  You can count yourself as well-resourced if:  (1) you feel confident that you can adequately clothe and house yourself and those in your care, even if you have no job for a time; (2) you feel confident that you can access adequate health care in a timely manner when you get sick; (3) you can afford to go on holiday to another place at least once every year; (4) you know how to recognise, and make the most of, any opportunities for education, employment or self-improvement that may come your way.  All of which is to say that you feel that you belong to the mainstream of Australian society, enjoying a lifestyle that most Australians assume as a right, rather than as a privilege.

Now, I’m not going to assume that I actually know which of you are poor, or which of you are rich.  Appearances can be very deceiving, especially in this age of credit-cards and long-term mortgages!  For the record, I’m relatively rich.  What I will do, however—and this is my burden and responsibility as a minister of Christ—is repeat the good news for both the rich and the poor, the good news at the heart of our faith tradition: - that if you are poor, God loves you, and calls you into a community called the church in which it is completely o.k. to expect that your legitimate needs will be taken care of;  - that if you are rich, God loves you too, and calls you to share what you have with the poor and thus become rich in other ways, rich in faith and in love and in mercy.  This good news is none other than that proclaimed in the story we read from Mark, where the well-resourced Jesus learns that God’s food is for everyone, not just for those who are part of his own particular religion or ethnic group; and where a poor Syrian woman, whose daughter needs God’s food very badly, asks and argues for what she needs, in the faith that God cares . . .  and finally receives from God what she needs through Jesus.

The good news is no more complicated than this, I suggest: that God is merciful.  So trust that God will be merciful to you; and trust that you can now live according the liberty and generosity of that mercy in your relationship with the needy people God places in your path.