As a people we have had a difficult time in recent years coping with a financial crisis that almost ruined the country. Putting things right has been costly for many and disastrous for some. The economic whys and wherefores have been widely debated but there has been little consideration of the moral issues that arise and to what extent government policies and public opinion have been influenced by the Christian values we like to think we live by. When individuals become preoccupied with their own concerns it can be difficult to persuade them to be concerned for what is called the common good. Self-interest and self-preservation, understandably, take centre stage.
In tomorrow’s Old Testament reading we catch up with the Jews who have just escaped from slavery in Egypt. They are short of food and struggling to cope with the austere conditions of the wilderness.
They accuse their leaders of trying to kill them and long to return to the “fleshpots of Egypt”, even though it means a return to the harsh conditions of slavery. For them the idea of making a sacrifice for the sake of the future had limited appeal. But that is human nature and there are signs that many have felt like that here in recent times. We are so afraid of the future that we want to hold on to our broken pasts. The same attitude has bedevilled attempts to face concerns about the environment which represent such a serious threat for generations to come.
Not everyone in Ireland has experienced real hardship. While almost everyone has faced extra charges and some reduction in income, many have not suffered a serious deterioration in living standards. The 400,000 ticket sales for the ill-fated Garth Brooks concerts indicate significant numbers of people with money to spend. This is not to criticise people for wanting to enjoy themselves but simply to point out that some are reasonably well off and that from a Christian point of view that brings responsibilities. Indeed one of the Garth Brooks songs emphasises the importance of human solidarity:
“The way this world shall be/When we walk hand in hand/When the last child cries for a crust of bread/ When the last man dies for just words that he said/When there’s shelter over the poorest head.”
In the gospel reading Jesus uses a parable to illustrate what the Kingdom of Heaven is like and interestingly he talks about pay and conditions. A landowner hires groups of workers at different stages throughout the day and when they come to collect their wages those who worked the whole day realise that they are getting the same as those who only worked part of the day and they object. This is about entitlement; they argue that they are entitled to more than the others even though they were given what they were promised originally.
That sense of entitlement is an issue in Ireland today. “Because you’re worth it” is not just a cosmetics advertising slogan; that’s how some people feel about their income levels. They show little real concern for those with huge financial problems, some of them drowning in negative equity, others desperate for a job.
Bishop of Oxford John Pritchard has no doubts about the problem: “Let’s not put a fine point on it. There’s a deep sickness in the heart of humanity which obsesses about accumulating more and more money and will use moral shortcuts and justifications of every kind in order to do so. When wealth becomes our goal it becomes our god and everything then serves that false divinity. Somehow we seem to think that more money will bring us happiness but the evidence is that it’s like drinking salt water: it just makes us more thirsty. We also run the risk of cutting ourselves off from others. Bishop Dom Helder Camara said: ‘Money has a dangerous way of putting scales on one’s eyes, a dangerous way of freezing one’s hands, lips and heart.’”