It is tiresome to keep hearing the regurgitated notion that capitalism is
somehow inconsistent with Christianity, or even that Jesus was essentially a
socialist. As a Divinity graduate, who studied the Bible as part of my degree, I
am familiar with the Gospels as well as the Old Testament and can find nothing
whatsoever to support this notion.
Jesus’ teachings were focussed first and foremost on spirituality, and he
frequently stressed that a person’s behaviour and attitudes are a matter of
individual responsibility, rather than drawing any conclusions about society in
general. He determinedly abstained from making any political comments, although he
lived at a time when his people were severely oppressed by Roman rule. He
refused, for example, to be drawn into any criticism of the occupying forces or
their masters, responding, when asked about whether it was right to pay taxes to
Caesar, “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Some
people argue that he was political in his criticism of the ruling classes among
his own people, but his criticism was aimed solely at the hypocrites who made it
extremely difficult for people to find their way to God. He drove the money
changers out of the Temple, not for any political reason but quite simply
because they were charging people exorbitant amounts to enter their most sacred
building.
It is true that he told the rich young man to give away all he owned to the
poor, and later said, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of
needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” but he was speaking
to one specific individual, who, as the Gospel explains, prized his money above
all other considerations.
The God whom Jesus presents in the parables is anything but a socialist in
terms of opposing capitalism and creating complete equality. In the Parable of
Talents, for example, the master (i.e. God) gives each of his servants
different sums of money and tells them to go away and use it. He does not give
them the same amount; and he does not praise the one who made no return. On the
contrary, he praises the servant who invested the money and made a fortune, and
says that to those who have more will be given, and to those who have not, even
the little they have will be taken away.’
Again, in the Parable of the Bridesmaids – those who prepared in advance by
bringing with them extra oil for their lamps are praised, and when the foolish
ones, who failed to prepare, ask them to share what they have, they are rewarded
for refusing to do so!
It is very easy to make sweeping generalisations about how society should
care for the poor or the sick, which makes the speaker sound caring but really
has no meaning. I have known people, for example, who rant about the shame of a
society that has so many homeless people, but when confronted by a homeless
person, they do not lift a finger to help that individual person. I have known
people who rant about the supposed collapse of the NHS, while failing to visit
sick people in their own vicinity. Jesus’ teachings concerning how we live in
our everyday lives, and how we relate to one another, had nothing to do with
society at large, or politics or sentimental speeches, they were about the
actions of individuals who recognise the likeness of God in one another. Jesus
did not advocate taking from the rich to give to the poor – on the contrary, he
advocated each person using his or her own talents to the full, in whatever
occupation they are engaged. He did condemn envy and hypocrisy, and it seems to
me that a good deal of socialism is based solely on envy.
Why, I ask myself, do certain socialist leaders feel such intense anger
towards ‘the rich’? The answer that comes from history is very clearly
illustrated by the Russian Revolution when those who raged against the Tsarist
wealth seized power, and immediately moved into the palaces, drove the Tsar’s
cars and sat in his box at the theatre. It is the politics of envy. In the Old
Testament, wealth was a sign of God’s blessing – Abraham, Job, David, Solomon –
all were described as extremely wealthy.
Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money...” and I would argue that
a poor person is more likely to serve money than is a wealthy person. A wealthy
person has the ability to use their wealth for good, and can spend their time
doing whatever they feel they are called to do. A poor person, struggling to
make ends meet, spends so much time thinking about money...and usually the lack
thereof. Surely then, it is better to encourage capitalism, and the ability we
all have to make money, rather than to rail against the rich, quite simply
because we do not share their riches.
Ultimately, Jesus was talking about neither capitalism nor socialism. He
spoke of spiritual matters, and how we translate them in our every day lives is
a matter of personal conscience. Clearly, it is misguided to claim his teachings
for one political viewpoint or another – in the same way as it has been
wrong that, in almost every war, every nation and army has claimed that God is on
their side.
Posts
Fidel Castro ordered mass executions, set up work (concentration) camps for
gay men and other ‘deviants’; enslaved his own people and murdered them for
trying to leave the country; established torture chambers and under his
dictatorship Cuba had the highest suicide rate in any Western country. Jeremy
Corbyn praised him as ‘a champion of social justice’.
