Wealth, Social Justice, and God

It’s well known among Christians who know their Bible that Jesus spoke about money more than any other topic.  He did not favor the wealthy.

It was Jesus who said that it will be harder for a rich person to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  Why?

First of all, wealth and power go hand and hand.  And, generally speaking, the more wealth one has, the more one uses its power to maintain and/or gain even more control over its access, use, investment, and production.  It is no accident that over time wealth tends to accumulate into the hands of a smaller and smaller percentage of people within any given society at any given time in history—note how we Americans have gotten use to referring to the top one or two percent who have, and control, most of the money in our nation.

Politicians representing the wealthy will denigrate anyone who even appears to look like they are living off handouts from the government, yet many of our local, state, and federal tax laws and investment laws and employment laws, etc., actually favor big business, powerful industries, and their wealthy owners.

For example, how is it considered fair and equitable when a wealthy man like Mitt Romney pays no more than 15% on his income taxes while those who will never come close to making what Romney’s has made will have paid as much as 24% or more on their income taxes?  Who is getting a handout here?  Or how is it considered fair and equitable when a big corporation comes into a state with an agreement that they will have a state tax write-off for doing business in that state, as a so-called incentive to bring-in employment?  Why should the tax payer pay for big business handouts of this kind?

God expects His people to be supportive of social justice and the equitable distribution of means and opportunity for all people to prosper and do well—not for the few to live in excess at the expense of the many.

Note the prophet Isaiah’s reproach: “Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land.  The Lord of Hosts has sworn in my hearing: surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.  For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.”  [Isaiah 5:8-10]

Note the prophet Amos’ reproach: “Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way….” [Amos 2:6-7a]

Money, wealth, riches, is not evil or bad in and of itself.  Nevertheless, money, and its power, is dangerously seductive.  True, very few extremely-wealthy families believe that they are wealthy because they have directly mistreated or oppressed the less fortunate.  However, God warns us.  There is much more than meets the eye when it comes to why the wealthy have so much and the poor have so little.

Injustice is not just a matter of personal wrongdoing.  Injustice is, more often than not, systemic, institutional, and social.  Unjust tax laws, inhumane work conditions, unfair employment practices, inequitable banking and investment policies, a skewed and unfair distribution of, and/or access to, basic natural resources (like clean water and clean air or simple basic health care), these systemic imbalances, and much, much more help make the rich, richer, and the poor, poorer.

A Biblical principle and truth is that God expects His people to always be concerned for, care for, and give heed to the needs of the poor, the less fortunate, and the socially and economically oppressed.