Then Jesus said to His host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:12-14
“I’d like to contrast two economies or worldviews. The first economy is capitalism, which is based on quid pro quo, reward and punishment, and justice as retribution. This much product requires this much payment. It soon becomes the framework for our fundamental relationships, our basic self-image, and actions (“I deserve”; “You owe me”; “I will be generous if it helps me, too”), and constructs a faulty foundation for our relationship with the Divine.
We’ve got to admit that this system of exchange seems reasonable to almost everybody today. If we’re honest, it makes sense to us, too, and seems fair. I’m not going to say it’s wrong—it does much good. The only trouble is, Jesus doesn’t believe it at all, and he’s supposed to be our spiritual teacher.
Let’s contrast this “meritocracy,” the punishment/reward economy of basic capitalism, with what Jesus presents. I’m going to call it a gift economy. In a gift economy, there is no equivalence between what we give and how much we get. We don’t really like this model, because we feel we’ve worked hard to get to our rightful social positions. We feel we have earned our rights.
Yet if we call ourselves Christians, we have to deal with the actual gospel. The only way we can make the great turnaround and understand this is if we’ve had at least one experience of being given to without earning. It’s called forgiveness, unconditional love, and mercy. If we’ve never received unearned, undeserved love, we will stay in the capitalist worldview where 2 + 2 = 4. I put in my 2, I get my 2 back.
But we remain very unsure, if not angry, about anything “free,” whether it is free health care (physical, mental, or spiritual) or even free education. These benefits can be seen as natural human rights that sustain peoples’ humanity and dignity, as papal social encyclicals make clear. All too often, though, we only want people in our own group to benefit from health care, education, and bailouts.
We don’t “deserve” anything, anything! It’s all a gift. Until we have begun to live in the kingdom of God, instead of the kingdoms of this world, we will think exactly like the world. To understand the gospel in its radical, transformative power, we have to stop counting, measuring, and weighing. We have to stop saying “I deserve” and deciding who does not deserve. None of us deserves! This daily conversion is hard to do unless we’ve experienced infinite mercy and realized that it’s all a gift—all the time.”
Richard Rohr in “It’s All A Gift” blog post by the Center for Action and Contemplation dated 23 September 2021.
Special thanks to two Daily Meditations readers, Arnie Adkison and Michael Cherenkov who separately alerted me to Rohr’s recent posts on money. They are rich. Find them here. And though this post was long, I want to make a few pointed statements in response.
My doctoral research on 1 Timothy revealed that Paul wanted Timothy to remain in Ephesus to teach people to live according to God’s economy rather than adopt to the local mindset on money. As Ephesus was the financial capital of the ancient world, it’s no wonder that his letter would include a command for Timothy to tell the rich enjoy and share God’s blessings in order to take hold of life. It was precisely the opposite of the local, worldly thinking.
Only when we live in light of the fact that everything is a gift are we released us from the trappings of merit and set free to show mercy. Only when we realize we deserve nothing can we generously enjoy and share everything.
While capitalism appears to have done a lot of good, buyer beware. The greatest danger to the radical gospel may not be the obvious enemies but rather its close counterfeit. By definition, capital or money is the god served by that structure, and Jesus warned we could not serve God and money, though we might try. The former fosters greed and the latter champions grace, and it positions us to practice distinctly Christian generosity.
If anything that Rohr said (or that I have echoed) has ruffled your feathers, take it to Jesus. And know this, Rohr, Adkison, Cherenkov and I are not trying to rob you in pointing you to these ideas. We want to help you grasp life.