Thinking Anew:TOMORROW'S GOSPEL reading identifies some priorities that Jesus attached to his mission which have serious implications for his followers today. He stood up in the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth to read from the prophet Isaiah and chose this passage: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free."
We are told that every eye was fixed on him, but what were they thinking? Perhaps more importantly, what will we be thinking as we listen tomorrow?
The sentiments are worthy. Who could argue with commitments to social justice and healing? Living them is quite another matter. On another occasion Jesus said this: "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or . . . relatives or rich neighbours . . . Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you . . ."
This does not mean we cannot socialise and enjoy the company of our friends. It does mean that we are to make space in our lives for people on the margins. God wants us to bring them in, to treat them as honoured guests, to build relationships with them and take an interest in their lives. But that is not easy. Who hasn't had a twinge of conscience passing a homeless person, crouched in a city doorway with outstretched hand, asking for help?
There is a problem with how these matters are dealt with politically. We debate the causes of poverty but blame the poor themselves and salve our consciences by gestures and handouts. This does not only apply to the materially poor but to other vulnerable people as well. In the recent budget, for example, pensions for the blind and carers' allowances were cut, with very little public reaction. Last week "The Poor Can't Pay" campaign said the cutbacks announced in the budget showed they would affect the poorest in society the most, and push thousands of families into poverty.
"We estimate that thousands of families will be pushed below the poverty line because of the December budget . . . €1 in every €5 that the Government cut came from the pockets of the poor. This contradicts the Government's stated commitment to protect the most vulnerable." The Spirit of the Lord is easily ignored in this most religious of lands. It is tempting to blame politicians - and they have responsibilities - but the people themselves have power when they choose to use it, as senior citizens demonstrated when their medical cards were threatened - and in a church, too. But few care enough when other vulnerable groups are mistreated.
Christians often make the mistake of restricting the scope of ethics to a narrow class of "personal" sins, things like addiction and sexual immorality. But we fail to confront the structural injustices in our society; the sins, for example, of corporate greed and political cronyism. There is a vast difference in scale between the effects of individual acts of wrongdoing and a nation tolerating an unjust social structure that consigns thousands to live in misery.
Martin Luther King, that great prophet of the 20th century, with his Bible in one hand and the American constitution in the other, spoke passionately of God's purposes for social justice and reconciliation. He had a vision of "the beloved community", where those left out got a front-row seat at the party. He brought religion into public life in a way that was always welcoming and encouraging to those who cared about moral, spiritual and religious values. But to those who did not care, he had this to say: "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really co-operating with it." - GL