Saturday, July 9, 2011

Sparrows and Hair

In the Gospel today, Jesus tries to provide assurances to the apostles (and to us) that God knows everything that happens to us, and that He lovingly cares about what goes on in our lives. There is, however, a difference between knowing, caring and manipulating. just because the all-powerful God knows what happens to us and is concerned does not mean that He interferes or causes things to happen, like some grand puppeteer. No, God has created all things and keeps them in existence, but does not interfere with our decisions and the consequences of those decisions. For example, the conspicuous consumption by a minority of the world's population causes an imbalance in the distribution of the necessities of life. This means that there are people who starve to death every day. Now God certainly knows this and is concerned about each and every one of those people. But He does not make food magically appear in order to save their lives. Instead, He counts on the rest of us to act in ways that will correct this terrible injustice. He naturally is unhappy that these people die, and would much rather everyone share in the goods of the earth, but He does not force this on us.
It is part of the challenge we all are given. God has provided more than enough for all to live in peace and harmony, with each person having the necessities of life. But there are consequences when some refuse to share and accumulate more than is needed. The question is - what do we do about it? What actions can I take that acknowledge that I am aware of those who "fall to the ground"? If the hairs on my head are counted (and we know that is a constantly changing number), God also must know how much "stuff" I have accumulated as well. I need to take a closer look and see if I am doing enough to make sure that my extra "stuff" (money, food etc.) is not really supposed to be someone else's necessary stuff.
A tall order, but an important point is I want to live the Gospel.

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