Doing Nothing

The scriptures referred to are Psalm 146, 1 Timothy 6:6-19, and Luke 16:1-13.

I hope you have been watching Ken Burns' latest documentary on PBS. If not you can see the whole thing on pbs.org or on the PBS Video app. It's called The U.S. and the Holocaust. And, through the Nazi attempt at wiping out all the Jews took place in Europe, there are connections to our country. It turns out that Hitler's laws restricting Jews were inspired by our Jim Crow laws. The idea for removing Jews (and anyone else troublesome) as the Nazis expanded East was inspired by our removing and moving Native Americans as we moved West. Reservations became industrialized and turned into concentration camps. The near universal endorsement of eugenics and sterilization of the unfit by everyone from President Teddy Roosevelt down to even Helen Keller provided the pseudo-scientific basis for gassing the mentally and physically disabled. Hitler just saw the things we did and and took them to their logical ends.

But as the series goes on, you get horrified not so much by what we did but by what we didn't do. We didn't pay attention to the few reporters and newsreels, like the March of Time, that revealed quite early what Hitler was doing to the Jews, despite his denials. We didn't increase the number of Jewish refugees we took in. All the countries could have done more in this regard but even those European countries that did take in refugees were eventually overrun by the Third Reich. Jews who came here didn't have to worry about that. But widespread antisemitism, especially in the U.S. bureaucracy, along with public indifference to what was happening to other people so far from our shores let the Nazis get their hands on enough Jews that they killed 6 million of them, which was 2/3s of the number of Jews who lived in occupied Europe at that time. 1.5 million of those killed were children.

When we think of sins, we tend to think of sins of commission, what people do: murder, steal, lie, commit adultery, and actively harm others. But the Bible also reminds us that there are sins of omission, of not doing good when you can and should. I've mentioned social experiments where an actor falls and lies motionless on a busy city sidewalk and most people do nothing. They don't stop to see if he or she is all right. They don't even call 911. They just keep walking. Jesus knew of that phenomenon when he told his parable of the Good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite who pass by the man beaten and left for dead don't actively make his plight worse. Their sin is not doing what they can to help him, whereas the hero of the story does. And in the parable in today's gospel, the rich man is not punished for being rich but for ignoring poor, hungry, sick Lazarus who is lying at the man's gate. He could have helped but he didn't. His most grievous sin is not doing something bad; it's not doing anything.

Jesus also points to the importance of such sins in Matthew 25, where the Son of Man passes sentence on those on his left, saying, “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a foreigner and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me...I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.” (Matthew 25:42-43, 45) In this parable of the last judgment, Jesus doesn't mention any sins of commission, just sins of omission. The uncaring are condemned.

As awful as the effects of abuse are on children, studies have found that neglect is even worse. And it makes sense. To suffer neglect is to be left with the conclusion that you don't matter enough to merit any attention, not even negative attention. Under dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the 170,000 children in Romania's overcrowded orphanages were fed, diapered and bathed on a set schedule but received no affection because the overworked staff had no time. Many children died from “failure to thrive” while those who survived were left with severe psychological damage, resulting in problems such as poor impulse control, poor intellectual functioning, poor emotional regulation, and pathological behaviors like tics and self-punishment. Being loved is not a luxury but a deep human need. Withhold it and the spirit starves.

Of course, the withholding of what the body needs, like food, can also harm and kill. The Romans used starvation to defeat and destroy Carthage in 146 BC. It was a factor in the Irish Famine of the 1800s and the Armenian Genocide during the first World War. Hitler starved 4.2 million Russians to death during World War 2, perhaps inspired by his sometime ally Josef Stalin who used mass starvation to subjugate the Ukraine in 1933. Today this ancient tactic is a war crime. But as with all crime, laws don't make it cease to exist. It is being used today in Yemen and, once more, in Ukraine.

Willful neglect of others is a sin. When giving Israel their land, God says “there should not be any poor among you....” (Deuteronomy 15:4) But God knows humans all too well so he goes on to say, “If a fellow Israelite from one of your villages in the land the Lord your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive to his impoverished condition. Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend him whatever he needs.” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8) In other words, God is saying our reaction to another's need cannot be inaction. We must help.

One big problem is a misunderstanding of why some of us are blessed with more than others are. Some think it is simply a reward for hard work or being virtuous, though only 35% of the super rich come from poor or even middle class families and therefore can be considered self-made. Over 60% of the super rich inherited wealth. And, let's face it, no one works harder than the poor to survive, though few make it out of poverty. Nor are the numbers of the rich overly endowed with saints.

As Christians, we know that everything we have, including our talents, our intelligence and other advantages, come from God. And they can, and one day will, all go away. We are stewards of what we are and have. And God wants us to use what we have to help those who lack what we have. If we are well off, God has been generous to us and expects us to pass it on, being generous to others, as Paul says in today's epistle. (v.17)

We know that kids tend to imitate their parents. Paul said, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” (Ephesians 5:1) Jesus gave this as the reason we are to obey his hardest commandment. “But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45) We are to love even those who don't love us because God does the same.

And today's psalm tells us some specific ways we can be like our heavenly Father.

God “gives justice to those who are oppressed.” The Hebrew word for “oppressed” can also mean the “wronged or extorted.” So, as his children, we are to also bring justice to those who suffer injustice and are exploited and oppressed.

God also gives “food to those who hunger.” The only miracle Jesus performed that is recorded in all 4 gospels is the feeding of the 5000. And while we may not have his gift for stretching food that far, as God's children, we can feed those in our community by, say, skipping the chips and soda and buying some extra food to give to the local food pantry.

“The Lord sets the captives free.” This isn't calling for holy jailbreaks but we should certainly support efforts to clear the unjustly convicted. And we should give those who have paid their debt to society a fair chance at a new life. Often a person who is incarcerated, even if later found not guilty, will have lost their job, their home, and their reputation. They may have to start over from nothing. There are programs and ministries that help former inmates transition but there are very few here in the Keys.

“The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.” We can do this spiritually by studying God's Word and helping others understand his love and grace. And we can do this physically thanks to advances in medicine. For one thing, you can donate your corneas, so when you die, they can enable someone else to see. And by donating your liver, kidneys, heart and other organs after your death, you can, in a sort of imitation of Jesus, give new life to others.

“The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.” This may mean those bowed under crushing burdens. It could be the same people as in Psalm 145:14, where it says, “The Lord upholds all who fall down and lifts up all who are bowed down.” It may also be referring to those mentioned in Psalm 113:7, where we read, “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.” When you are down, for whatever reason, the Lord will lift you up. And as his children we should do this for others.

“The Lord loves the righteous.” That means those who are in the right relationship with God, forgiven and trusting, but also, as we said a few weeks ago, those who are just in their dealings with other people. And so we get some examples of those who typically need help and are victims of injustice because they have little or no power in society.

“The Lord cares for the stranger.” This word really means “alien” or “foreigner.” God has a special concern for those not born in the land who later came here. He reminds the Israelites that they were once foreigners living in Egypt and therefore must love the foreigner as they do themselves and treat him fairly, like a citizen. (Leviticus 19:34)

“The Lord sustains the orphan and widow.” Women without husbands and children without fathers were especially vulnerable in the ancient world. And sadly, it's still true. Women experience poverty at higher rates than men, with 10 million women living below 50% of the federal poverty line. And 36% of all poor people in the US are children. We have the highest poverty rate for children among all wealthy democracies. This doesn't make God happy. It shouldn't be something we tolerate either.

Finally, we are told that God “frustrates the way of the wicked.” The Hebrew literally says “He turns the way of the guilty upside down.” Guilty of what? Guilty of causing or perpetuating the injustices just mentioned. And by turning their ways upside down, it means God reverses those injustices. And as his loving children, we should too.

God's ways seem upside down to humans. We think we can actually own things, whereas they are really on loan from God. We think we can do what we want with what we have, whereas God gave them to us to share with others. We think we are righteous if we don't do harm to others, whereas God wants us to get involved and not stand by and let injustices happen. He wants us to help, to actively show his love to others.

In the book of Esther, a young Jewish woman finds herself the new wife of the Persian king. Her cousin Mordecai uncovers a plot to kill all the Jews. He tells Esther in order that she might get the king to stop it. But, she says, to go into the king's presence without permission means death. Mordecai counters with the fact that to stay silent means death for others. So Esther fasts and asks her cousin to get their fellow Jews to fast as well. She says, “I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16) She takes the risk of doing the right thing and tells the king and her people are saved.

Jesus did the right thing to save us but he did perish. God raised him, though, and if we put our trust in him, he will raise us also. With that assurance let us deny ourselves all rights to ownership as the world understands it. Let us instead be stewards of God's gifts and use not just our money but our time and our talents to serve God by serving others, especially those who are suffering. As the recipients of God's grace and love, ignoring those in hunger, in pain, in prison or in some other need is not an option. As beneficiaries of his self-sacrifice, we cannot refuse to make sacrifices to help those who haven't the luxury of giving up what little they have.

Most of us do have the luxury of doing nothing when evil is happening to others. And as we've seen, God considers that evil as well. God has seen the world he created and which he pronounced good go bad. War, oppression, slavery, poverty and other evils have been normal features throughout our history, experienced by the majority of human beings who have ever lived. That's still true today.

God has not been silent. God has not been inactive. Through his word, through his prophets, and especially through Jesus, his Word made flesh, he has denounced evil and displayed his justice and love. He stood up to evil at great cost to himself.

And Jesus has passed on his mission to us, his followers, called to be children of God and imitators of Christ. Jesus started his ministry by reading a passage from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) And to us he says, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37)