The Bible can be used to support any cause and the more fundamental the cause the more absurd is the biblical justification. Look carefully enough and you can find a reference to suit any situation. Like life, the Bible is a more complicated piece of work than a series of quotations of truisms. There certainly are themes within the books of the Bible and in the Gospel texts for the Sunday liturgy over the past few months there is a definite line of thought which is not too sympathetic to the rich and famous. The Gospel to be read in Catholic churches around the world tomorrow is the famous story of the widow's mite (Mark 12: 3844). Jesus compares the simple old lady who gives all she can afford with the ruling classes. It is clear that all Jesus's sympathies are with the poor woman and he has little time for the powerful and rich.
"Beware of those teachers of the law who enjoy walking around in long robes and being greeted in the marketplace, and who like to occupy reserved seats in the synagogues and the first places at feasts. They even devour the widow's and orphan's goods while making a show of long prayers. How severe a sentence they will receive!" (Mark 12:38-40.) That certainly is a startling assertion. Right through the New Testament Jesus comes down on the side of the poor and the marginalised. And organised religion has often used those instances in the Bible to justify the plight of the poor. There has been the temptation to romanticise the lot of the poor and to tell them there are better days ahead in the next life. But unfortunately the same organised religions have sometimes conveniently forgotten to mention how Jesus blames those in power for causing such hardship. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus pulls no punches. He accuses those who sit in reserved places of devouring the widows and orphans goods.
In television footage and media reports of major events in Ireland in the past century right up until recent years, there, sitting in the middle of the rich and powerful, were Catholic bishops. How was it never pointed out what a nonsense that was? It seems a far cry from the mood and atmosphere of the New Testament. Jesus is all the time stressing his solidarity with the poor. People are poor because of the sins of those who organise and control the goods of the earth. There are enough resources on our planet to support everyone - provided, of course, they are managed fairly.
It is obscene to see groups of people living in extraordinary wealth while at the same time millions go hungry. It is wrong and sinful. The more we are tempted and seduced by the claws of capitalism the easier it is for us to forget the poor. There is always the temptation to point the finger at them and accuse them of being lazy and no good. So with two or three words we can write off millions of people and blame them for their plight.
The more we have, the more we want. It's all part of the mantra of capitalism to whet our insatiable appetites. Whatever profits are made this year, they have to be bigger next year. The voice of opposition to our headlong rush to US-style capitalism is nothing less than mute. And there, right in front of us in the Gospel read in Catholic churches tomorrow, Jesus is clearly and straightforwardly casting aspersions on those who sit in the reserved seats. Society has been forever reverent to those in power. We look back at past generations and ask how they did such things, but we are doing exactly the same today. We doff the hat in every generation. We might change the way and the group to whom we doff, but we are only fooling ourselves if we think we have gone beyond such servility.
What's the difference between those reserved seats where the scribes enjoyed sitting and our modern corporate boxes? It is amazing how we manage to continue hijacking the Bible to suit our own thinking. And is that what I am doing here? I hope not.
M.C.