Mark 10 and social justice

(from discussion in my class on Mark):

I have just been astounded by the continual mention of taking care of the poor throughout Scripture. Duet. 15 is a good place to begin, notice how then this text begins demonstrating God’s heart from the beginning of Israel as a nation to the formation of the new people of God in Christ. Somewhere, somehow we’ve missed this teaching by and large. I know there are examples, good examples out there that defy the previous statement about missing this, but boy have we as the church done a terrible job with this. I think this teaching as we have heard this week is so foreign to us because of our blindness to the poverty elsewhere in the world. While we as US citizens may not consider ourselves to be rich, certainly a nation that has 5 % of the world’s population and consumes 95% of the world’s resources we are indeed rich. I would imagine that Deuteronomy 15 would apply to the global situation as well?!

This conversation about the lecture and social justice brings me to the reading and the man that approaches Jesus in Mark 10:17-31, the story we call the rich young ruler and then the business about the camel passing through the eye of a needle. What has struck me here was the mention of the position of the rich in the ancient world. Rich folk had status and were seen to be blessed. I think the beauty of this passage, is that this man, this rich man who trusted in his riches and who would have been in the role of benefactor was asked to give it all up, not only wealth but his status as a provider and that there was greater blessings available than wealth (D/H 303-304)*. D/H also mention how this rich man was more focused on acquiring wealth than on making God’s kingdom a priority (D/H 304). I think the connection here to the lecture on social justice is important. Jesus comes down hard on the rich. I didn’t realize as it was pointed out in the lecture that poverty was blamed on the rich, and contrasted to our society where poverty is blamed on the poor. For us today, Jesus call of abandonment of worldly wealth is just as radical as it was in his day.

Our churches are full of working class people, and in my own church we have a fair few wealthy folks. I know some of these wealthy folks are generous with their wealth. But, the question this reading this week, and the from the lecture is, if there is inequality still even within our own churches, for example, if some of our members are on the verge of financial ruin and brother so and so is rolling around town in a Beamer, who is more blessed? The remarks following this little story of the rich man, would indicate the poor person is the one in better standing. If God wants us to purposeful limit the economic disparities in our churches and our society, then certainly we must recover Scriptural teaching of social justice. We have to be willing to go out on a limb and share this information. I am sick and tired of hearing brethren quote Amos 5 and the business of how God hates musical instruments, and sick of how the church in general has missed this call to seek justice, to take care of the oppressed. We have been fighting over 100 years over whether or not God approves instruments instead of feeding the poor, and clothing the naked. It hurts to see church budget after church budget come out year after year, with a meager local missions budget, and then to have tell people day after day, sorry we can’t help you. Bologna.

I love how Jesus interprets the story of the rich young man with his remarks about the impossibility of the rich to enter heaven. I have always read this passage with too narrow a view, I always noticed the power of God portrayed here, but I now see it a little differently, as the powerlessness of the human condition.

* Donahue, John R., and Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Mark

* Dowd, Sharyn.  Reading Mark:  A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Second Gospel.

the BCS mess?

I begin today with a declaration of my loyalty to the Ohio State Buckeyes who are currently ranked number 1 in the BCS polls. Okay, I know that we aren’t supposed to be ranked this high, that last year we were humiliated by Florida 41-14 and that we lost a bunch of our talent. But, here is the thing, at least my two cents worth. If Ohio State is undeserving, then let’s just be honest, LSU and USC and even Oklahoma aren’t deserving either. If you have lost a game than you shouldn’t be number one. So, with this incredibly odd football season, let’s just how things pan out.

As a biased commentator, of course I am pulling for the Buckeyes. I would love to have a chance of redemption at the national title.

One thing is for sure, there is still a lot of football to play!

Tony “Oh-No” Romo

The Cowboy’s win in the final second of last night’s MNF was incredible. Even though Romo through five interceptions, the Cowboy’s came out on top. Whew! We escaped a close on.

Growing up, there were two teams we rooted for: Being a Dayton native, of course we cheered for the Bengals, and we rooted for the Cowboy’s.