A Question of Fair Balance

Moravian Daily Texts is one of the resources Candy and I use for our evening devotional time. Last night included these two pieces that strike me as speaking to current issues in this country.

 

2 Corinthians 8:13-15

I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.”

 

Psalm 72:2-4

May he [the king] judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness. May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.

 

The Corinthian letters were written to churches, not governments or economists, centuries before capitalism was invented. Nevertheless, it strikes me that something is drastically wrong when people of wealth accumulate far more than they can ever use while many others struggle to provide food, shelter, and clothing for their families.

 

The quote “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.” is a reference to God’s provision of manna in Exodus 16:18, which was a model for the recurrent calls for justice by the Hebrew prophets, which 2 Corinthians extends to the economic values for the Church. The US is not a theocratic country as ancient Israel was; and Psalm 72 never mentions the personal piety of the king, but is clear that justice for the poor and prosperity for all are the legitimate responsibility of government, which might be addressed in a variety of ways.