What God Wants for the Poor, Hungry and Oppressed: Solidarity, not Charity

NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm 23
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Prayer of the Day: O God, powerful and compassionate, you shepherd your people, faithfully feeding and protecting us. Heal each of us, and make us a whole people, that we may embody the justice and peace of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

It is Easter Sunday. Though thoroughly exhausted by the ordinary rigors of Holy Week and the extraordinary rigors of a funeral for a suicide victim and the hospitalization of a young girl tragically rendered comatose by a brain anyrism, I am nonetheless pumped for celebrating the resurrection. This is one of the few Sundays when the church is filled to capacity. The morning is clear, warm and sunny. It is everything you could ask for on Easter. Led by the choir, the congregation breaks into a chorus of Jesus Christ is Risen Today. I look out over the congregation with satisfaction-and suddenly my heart sinks.

Standing at the rear of the church I see him. It’s Neil. Neil is well known to every pastor, priest and rabbi in Bergen County. He is sure to have a problem that only cold hard cash can solve. He always shows up on Sunday morning when he knows very well that you are too busy to give him much attention and that any state or county agency to which you might refer him is closed. He does this because he knows that you know that the easiest way to get rid of him is just to give him a twenty dollar bill and be done with it. I don’t want to deal with Neil this morning. I just want to rest in the light of the resurrection with my people. They deserve this. I deserve this.

I can’t help but suspect that Jesus felt something of the same dismay when, after finally escaping the crowds in a desperate search for solitude following God only knows how many days of ministering to needy people, he is met by yet another crowd of needy people. Read more