"The Penurious Rich": A Reflection on the Second Reading for September 30th, 2018: Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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James 5:1-6 

An answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be your own sentence, and eat into your body. It was a burning fire that you stored up as your treasure for the last days. Labourers mowed your fields, and you cheated them – listen to the wages that you kept back, calling out; realise that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart’s content. It was you who condemned the innocent and killed them; they offered you no resistance.

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James’ letter is full of overflowing love and passion for the poor, and it’s coming out as righteous anger. His words echo the Sermon on the Mount: Blessed are the poor. Except in this case we’re hearing the other side of that. If the poor are blessed, then what of the selfish rich who wouldn’t spare Lazarus a drop of water? James isn’t afraid to loudly proclaim the clear moral lines and dangers of selfish, devouring wealth.

Unless I become like St. Francis of Assisi (a very worthy idea!), eschewing ownership of earthly things and becoming one with the needy and the poor, I can’t. So how do I mitigate the damage being done daily in the name of Capitalism, Nationalism, and everything other -ism that isn’t entirely motivated and directed by the Spirit? Small (and great) acts of resistance. The minority world is happy to tick along, taking care of only ourselves and whatever small cause has tugged at our heartstrings – giving us a dull sense of pride that we helped. The first act of resistance is to change our perspective. If I am, as my faith teaches, my brother’s keeper – if everyone in this world, regardless of age, gender or location, is my family – then how can I be different than the wealthy James describes? By going where my brother goes, by seeing my money, rather than people, as an object to be used. Our world is spending people like currency. If you dropped a twenty dollar bill to the ground, you’d swoop down, pick it up and wipe it off before tucking it back into your wallet. Do we offer the same care to our brothers and sisters? Do we pick them up, show them they matter? There are lots of practical ways we can do that. From saying a kind word to the person living on the street, to donating to our local food bank, to sponsoring a child through Chalice. We can use our money to raise up people, rather than using people to raise up our wealth.

My family has been the blessed recipient of incredible generosity. When we fell on hard times, several connect groups in our Church quietly raised money to help us pay for food, bills and even presents for the kids. Since that time, our family has become keenly aware of the impact our generosity can have on others. Our Church family picked us up, wiped off our worries, and held us close.

Let Us Pray: Dear Father, inspire us with generosity. Make us givers, not takers. Reveal to us those in our midst who need our help and guide us as we care for them. Let our sole motivation be to give like you do, with no expectation of return. Help us to be your hands and feet in the world. Amen.

Stephanie Potter

"​We can use our money to raise up people, rather than using people to raise up our wealth." - Stephanie Potter (Ora Reflections)

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