[Mcgregorpage] Pentecost 14, Sept. 10, 2006 - McGregorPage 520

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Pentecost 14, September 10, 2006

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9,22-23
Psalm 125
James 2:1-10 (11 13) 14-17
Mark 7:24-37

>From Rich and Poor to Community

  “The poor” was an accepted designation of a class of people 2500 years 
ago and is just as recognizable today.  Jesus was right when he said, 
"For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to 
them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me." (Mark 14:7)   
Lyndon Johnson with his Great Society dared to ask why we should always 
have the poor.  The answer is simple, cheap labor.  Our desire for 
cheap labor is greater than our desire for community.

The Proverb counsels consideration of the poor because of a fundamental 
community among people.  “The rich and the poor have this in common: 
the LORD is the maker of them all."  (Proverbs 22:2) What else do the 
rich and poor have in common?  They prefer cheap labor to costly labor. 


The ditch needs cleaning.  The costliest way to get it done is to do it 
myself.  It is cheaper if you do it.  “How,” you say, “Can you get me 
to clean your ditch?”  If you are poor enough, you will clean it in 
order to live another day.  I don’t have to be a rich man to benefit 
from another person’s poverty.

  “Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with 
the poor.”  But, if I give alms to the poor, how will they be motivated 
to clean my ditch?  "Such are the wicked; always at ease, they increase 
in riches." (Psalm 73:12) Ease and riches, riches and ease, these are 
the envy of every human heart including the poor heart.

So, how could it ever be that the poor are not with us?  That the work 
doesn’t go to the lowest bidder?  That the lives of people are not 
weighed out in part-time lots at minimum wage reduced to offset tips? 
James says that our faith should result in an equitable community where 
people have a value not tied to their economic impact but tied to the 
impact of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  “ Listen, my beloved brothers 
and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in 
faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who 
love him?”  (James 2:5) Still, this is not the whole society, just a 
small sect of the first century that James is visualizing.   If this 
spirit did not prevail in that small sect, as it certainly did not in 
Jerusalem where the Proverbs were taught, how could it ever sway a 
whole society?

It appears that Jesus experienced a redefinition of his mission, if not 
his perceptions, late in his ministry.  We find him struggling with a 
Syrophoenician woman over the hierarchy of society before God -- Jew 
first and then gentile.  Or, is Jesus struggling with himself?  Where 
would the mission of Jesus be now, if it had remained Jew first?

Can we follow Jesus in such a reevaluation of our mission?  Can “me 
first” be redefined?  Can riches be redefined?  Ease?  Labor?  Now that 
we’ve done the world has tried the communist thing, is there anyone 
with the courage to move forward?  Are we going to do another century 
with the rich-poor schism? Can we afford it?

What would it be like if we took turns cleaning the ditch?  Not just 
non-violent inmates, work-fare recipients and executives sentenced to 
community service.  What if instead of “me first,” it were “our town,” 
“our country,” “our world?”  What if riches were defined by what we 
hold in common. rather than what we possess, what we share rather than 
what we hoard?  What if “ease” were Sabbath rest, the rest of the 
righteous that the Psalmist describes?  "Those who trust in the LORD 
are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.”  
(Psalms 125:1) What if labor were an expression of shared 
responsibility for our town, our country, our world and ourselves?  
Remember what community was like when there was a “barn raising?”

May these thoughts strengthen you.

An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor
 (an e-mail service)

[See Web Page address below for a Children’s Message coordinated with 
these lections.]

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/

Multiple Sermon Starter Essays are available at
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      --Copyright 2006, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved—
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