Mat 22:36-40
(36) “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
(37) And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
(38) This is the great and first commandment.
(39) And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
(40) On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Mar 12:28-34
(28) And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
(29) Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
(30) And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
(31) The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
(32) And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.
(33) And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
(34) And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Rom 13:8-10
(8) Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
(9) For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
(10) Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Gal 5:13-14
(13) For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
(14) For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jas 2:8
(8) If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
All the above Scriptures are from the ESV.
It seems very clear that according to Jesus the teaching of the whole Old Testament (the Law and Prophets) is summed up in two Great Commandments; to love God and love our neighbor. As Christians it seems to me that all of our actions should be focused toward those two ends.
I am deeply concerned as a Christian first and foremost but also as a citizen of the U.S. about the current state of our country and the world. I believe we are at a crossroads. Our economic systems has broken and taken the whole world with it. Our world today is interconnected and interlinked in ways that were beyond imagination just 30 years ago. But because of that inter-connectivity it means that due to the problems here in the US people all over the world are suffering.
At this crossroads we have two choices. To return to the status quo, to repair the broken system that we have, or to chart a new course. I believe we need to chart a new course. The two main economic systems capitalism and socialism both are seriously flawed in the same way. For both systems to work each person must put other people first. In capitalism in order that all share in the benefits those at the top must limit their own acquisition of capital and share with others. In socialism each must work hard so that others are not doing all the work while all share all the benefits.
We need to work together to find a practical economic system that works together that is based on the common good. I admit in a world of selfishness this seems like a daunting if not impossible task. But I believe this is a place where the Christian Church can take the lead.
I am not talking about a political system I am talking about an economic system. People often confuse the two. Democracy is the best political system and where there are a large number of people a representative democracy can work well, if those elected to represent the people are held accountable to do just that.
Our current system broke because it is based on greed, plain and simple. Adam Smith said the unseen hand of peoples self interest would regulate the market. The problem is that it is the unseen hand a a comparatively few people that regulates the market. Both political parties share the blame for the current mess. This most recent economic disaster has come about primarily because of deregulation of the markets that took place both under the Clinton and Bush regimes. I am troubled that President Obama has surrounded himself with people from both those administrations that helped to cause the current crisis to fix the crisis.
We also must not think just of our own nation. After decades of seeing decreases in world poverty this most recent crisis along with the food crisis has plunged more people into poverty world-wide. Part of the food crisis was caused by the commodification of food. (I am deeply afraid of the push to make water a commodity as well.)
To be honest I doubt that enough people will care enough to work together to find a fair and just economic system. I imagine temporary repairs will be made to the current system, after all it benefits the rich and powerful and they have no desire to see the system changed. So what should we do. There is a popular phrase bandied about a lot lately. I believe it is from Ghandi but it is: Be the change you want to see. I believe there is more than a grain of truth in that statement. If we as individual Christians or even non-Christians who truly care about our neighbors, and the parable of the Good Samaritan shows that our neighbors are not just those of our own country or ethnic group, begin to make sure that all our actions including our economic actions demonstrate a love for all we will at least be headed in the right direction.
Although my blog has very few readers I intend to try to focus on the common good. After all we are not fine, because so many others are not fine.
