Lose That You May Find (Part 1)

Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2009 Posted: 5:08:46PM HKT

Jesus is preaching the messianic year of Jubilee! Let it be thus acknowledged that in the age to come, there will indeed a redistribution of wealth, from the rich to the poor, for that is what Jubilee is all about (Leviticus 25:23; Isaiah 61:1-2f; Luke 4:16-19). And moreover, there is indeed a biblical tradition, which well affirms the potential goodness of wealth, and its potential power to steer our hearts towards praise and thanksgiving to God for His bountiful and generous works towards us.

However, and this is what completes the paradox of wealth according to the biblical story: there is as Foster reminds us, the “dark side” of wealth. The awful reality is that paradoxically, the Old Testament wholly depicts the “rich man” as the definitive metaphor for the “wicked man.” The “rich man” is thus the definitive person (particularly in the Psalms), who oppresses the poor; and who in his wickedness robs the masses of justice (e.g., Ps 10:5-6; 37:7-11; 49:10-12; 73:2-9). The truth is that throughout the Bible, the Scriptures consistently dramatise the “rich man” as a metaphor for the “wicked man!”

Jesus also drew upon this tradition, when He preached about the “great reversal” (Luke 6:20-26). The book of James draws upon that same tradition wherein it describes the “rich” as those who oppress the “poor.” Moreover, it says that God is Himself partial towards not the “rich” but the “poor” (James 2:5-7; 5:1-6). We also know that at the heart of Paul’s vision of community, is that his primary injunctions for self-initiative in reconciliation are specifically directed towards one social-economic group, and that is the wealthy. For it was the wealthy in fact, who were the primary obstacles towards the creation of a heterogeneous Christian community (e.g., 1 Cor 11). For sake of brevity, I am not even examining the tradition as exemplified through the prophetic writings, which is however, even more so self-evident.

All through Scripture, it is on the other hand, the “poor” who are presented as the definitive metaphor for the “righteous!” I will not here explore or highlight any biblical proof-texts, as the preceding verses should aptly serve to demonstrate how Psalms consistently coveys the “poor” as the definitive metaphor for the “righteous.” It is pertinent however to draw attention to the Song of Mary (Luke 1:46-52f). For her song directly draws upon the same imagery of the displacement of the “rich” by the “poor,” a theme which Mary drew from Hannah’s song (1 Samuel 2:4-8f).

I want to now return to Foster’s analysis on the “dark side” of wealth. Foster declares that its darkness is most evident today in our insane “lust for affluence,” which he describes as “psychotic.” Foster writes: “It is psychotic” because through affluence we have “completely lost touch with reality . . . [For] The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick.” Foster then draws attention to how this “psychosis permeates even our [cultural] mythology. The modern hero is the poor boy who purposefully becomes rich rather than the rich boy who voluntarily becomes poor.” Thus, “Covetousness we call ambition. Hoarding we call prudence. Greed we call industry.”

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Rev Monte Lee-Rice
The Christian Post (Singapore) Guest Contributor