In an article he recently wrote for the Huffington Post, activist and author Shane Claiborne brought a Christian perspective to the growing Wall Street protests. Claiborne mentioned how a reporter asked him, "As a Christian leader, does your faith have anything to say about Wall Street?" Claiborne’s response was: "How much time do you have?"
Claiborne insists faith has plenty to say to the economic realm, citing theologian Karl Bath’s famous saying that "We have to read the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper in the other." Claiborne insists that Christians should never use their faith as a ticket out of this world but rather as fuel to engage it.
Claiborne adds that the Gospels confront the very “patterns of the world we live in.” He talks about how the pregnant Mary sings about how God will cast the mighty from their thrones and raise the lowly. There are about 2000 similar verses in Scripture, where God confronts the powerful and promises care for the poor and vulnerable. Claiborne then writes:
“What would Jesus say about Wall Street?
It doesn't get much better than Luke chapter 12. Jesus begins by saying, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." And then, as per usual, he tells a story. The story is about a "rich man" whose business makes it big. He has so much stuff he doesn't know where to put it all. So he decides, "This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones... and I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.'" But Jesus says God looks down and is not happy. God says to the rich man, "You fool! This very night you will die -- and what will happen to all your stuff?" And Jesus ends the teaching by saying this is how things will be for folks who store up stuff for themselves.
It does make you wonder what to do about 401k's and pensions. But it seems pretty clear that Jesus isn't a big fan of stockpiling stuff in barns and banks, especially when folks are dying of starvation and preventable diseases.
One of the constant threads of Scripture is "Give us this day our daily bread." Nothing more, nothing less. Underneath this admonition is the assumption that the more we store up for tomorrow the less people will have for today. And in a world where 1% of the world owns half the world's stuff, we are beginning to realize that there is enough for everyone's need, but there is not enough for everyone's greed. Lots of folks are beginning to say, "Maybe God has a different dream for the world than the Wall Street dream."
Maybe God's dream is for us to live simply so that others may simply live. Maybe God's dream is for the bankers to empty their banks and barns so folks have enough food for today.”
To read the full article, go to www.huffingtonpost.com/religion.