From slavery to freedom
The suffering of slavery in Egypt and the liberation from that slavery experienced as God’s call and God’s gift marked forever the history of the People of Israel and it had a profound influence in their laws. The coming out of slavery into freedom became the foundational experience of a small group of people, who considered it so important that they based all their religious, cultural and social life on it.
God wants his people to be a free people. In fact, the whole Scriptures speak about that: God does not want to be a God of slaves. He only feels at home in a nation of people who live in freedom and accept his commandments as the law of freedom.
In this Sunday’s first reading, taken from the book of Exodus, God makes it very clear: The freedom enjoyed by his people must be extended to all. We are not free people if we oppress others. We should never forget where we came from. That’s why God told the people of Israel: You lived as foreigners in Egypt; so respect the stranger who lives among you. Don’t molest or oppress him.
Freedom to be true freedom goes together with justice and justice implies special care for the underprivileged. Take care of the orphan and the widow. If they cry to God in the middle of their suffering, God will listen to their cry of distress, and then he will punish the oppressors.
In the books of Moses and in the Prophets, we discover a God that sides with the poor and the oppressed. And he wants us to do the same. We cannot ignore the poor and the suffering people among us. Jesus’ compassion for the poor, the sick and the suffering is based in this very old tradition that recognises and expresses God’s love for them.
With so many widows and orphans in our country, we must ask ourselves what has been done to diminish their suffering and to make their life easier.
Greed and usury are sins
The capitalist society which we live in is ruled by greed, in which one tries to maximise the profits. Be it business between individuals or between nations, the principle is the same: If I can get 50% profit, why should I content myself with 10% only? People and their living conditions count for nothing; to have a huge profit and to declare big dividends are the only thing that counts.
How far we are from the Bible and from God’s will of a free and fair society! In the book of Exodus, the rule is very clear: If you lend money, “you must not demand interest”. We may say that this is a rule impossible to follow. There would be no investment and no lending without some interest paid on the money borrowed. It is a service, and you must pay for that service. But can we justify the big interest rates that make borrowing impossible? Can we justify the so called lundalunda or kaloba?
The capitalist model which guides the organisation of our society and our economy only favours the rich, leaving the poor more and more indebted. As the communist model disappear, the capitalist one must go the same way, because it does not contribute to build a fair society, in which all can have a share.
No comments:
Post a Comment