The fifty-eighth
chapter of Isaiah starts with a call to what we now refer to as social justice
[Isaiah 58:1-14]. It tells us to put an
end to oppression and to feed the hungry. Despite all of the technological and societal
advances since Isaiah’s time we haven’t made much progress. In fact, there’s probably a greater divide
between those that have the power and those that don’t and between those who
can eat in the finest dining establishments whenever they wish and those who
hope to rummage through the garbage of others to find something to ease their
hunger pangs. I wonder if God doesn’t
get terribly frustrated seeing the same privileged behavior over the centuries
one generation after another.
I wonder (and
sometimes worry) because I am one of the “privileged”. Although I wasn’t born to parents who could
afford to send me to private schools, the color of my skin, the country of my
birth, and my ancestry have given me privilege. Why wasn’t I born to parents who just hope to
have their children survive into adulthood either because of severe poverty or
because of the violence of war in their time and place? Why was I in a position to be able to raise my
children in comfort without the anguish and uncertainties of poverty and war? I know it’s not because of some kind of
favoritism; God loves each of us equally.
As I take
this reflection further, I begin to understand more completely how less can be
more and that my “privilege” has its own price. God expects more from those who have been
given more [Luke 12:48]. I don’t always
listen to those expectations. I get
caught up in the consumerism of our society. I often forget that anything that I’ve
accomplished is because of God’s work in me, not on my own. I forget how totally dependent I am on Him for
everything that I am and everything that I have. I am nothing without Him. I pray for God’s eternal patience with me; I
want to be open to His expectations.
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