New Testament 267

New Testament 267 2015-10-18T10:20:18-06:00

 

Tissot, Jesus going to Bethany
Jesus goes to Bethany in the evening
James Tissot (between 1886 and 1894)
Wikimedia Commons public domain

 

John 12:1-8

Compare Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; Luke 7:36-50

 

This story raises an issue that has occupied me for years, and for which I have no neat and clear answer.

 

The world is full of poor people, and many are malnourished and even starving.

 

I think that starvation and malnutrition can and urgently should be ended.

 

In this context, I think of one of my favorite charities, the Liahona Children’s Foundation.  One of the many reasons I like it is that I regard its mission as achievable.  Too often, when we consider world poverty and related matters, the task seems so overwhelmingly huge that we’re inclined to despair and do nothing.  However, if we break very large projects down into smaller bits, they become much less intimidating.  The journey of a thousand miles begins, as the saying goes, with a single step.  The Liahona Children’s Foundation proposes not to end world poverty altogether, but to end hunger and malnutrition among Mormon children — a finite task that seems entirely practicable, completely feasible, as well as morally imperative.

 

But back to the main issue:

 

On one level, it’s tempting to say that every bit of our surplus, everything beyond what we ourselves need to live, ought to go to the starving and the poor until they’re raised from poverty and are no longer hungry.

 

But then I think, “What of other worthy causes?”  What about the arts, which survive in many cases only through donations?  Do we really want to live in a world without symphony orchestras, operas, and museums?  What about the prevention of animal cruelty and the construction of women’s shelters and the funding of archaeological digs?  Many magazines would fold without benefactors.  So would many colleges and universities.  So, obviously, would virtually all churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples.

 

And what would happen to the developed economies if people suddenly sent all of their surplus funds to Somalia?  What if nobody bought big-screen televisions any more, or new cars, or better furniture, or new houses, or new music?  What if nobody went to concerts or watched movies?  How many would be thrown out of work? Would the developed nations actually lose their capacity to help the poor and the hungry?

 

Obviously, some sort of balance is necessary.

 

Exactly where it should be, though, I can’t say.  It’s hard enough to find that balance for myself, and I don’t know that I’ve found it; I’m certainly in no position to prescribe it for others.  But every morally serious person ought sometimes to think about this question, to examine his or her life and, if necessary, to make a course correction or to recalibrate.

 

 


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