[Propertalk] Proper 26 c 2016 - Part 1

[Robert P Morrison]

Uncorrected draft - part 1
Bob
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY
AFTER PENTECOST

	HABAKKUK 1:1-4; 2:1-4 PROPER 26 c

	2 THESSALONIANS 1:1-4, 11-12 30th OCTOBER, 2016

	LUKE 19:1-10 PSALM 119:137-44

	 I had an interesting conversation last week. It was not about
politics, at least in the usual sense. But, strictly, EVERYTHING is
about politics – the name comes from the Greek for “City” –
both buildings and citizens. So there’s nothing in life that isn’t
about politics. We were talking about economics – THAT word comes
the Greek word meaning “household management”, how we care for one
another, making sure that there is justice, and equity, and peace.
And, of course, morality came into the picture too. After all, it’s
morality which gives us the framework for all decision making. Without
morality, household management – economics, if you will – would
degenerate into survival of the fittest, and the devil take the
hindmost. And THAT expression goes back to the early sixteenth
century. 1

 BUT WE’RE NOT LIVING IN THE FIFTEEN HUNDREDS, NOR WERE WE TALKING
ABOUT THE FIFTEEN HUNDREDS. WE WERE TALKING ABOUT WHAT A CURRENT BOOK
DESCRIBES AS “DEVIL TAKE THE HINDMOST: A HISTORY OF FINANCIAL
SPECULATION”. 2

 THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT!

 FOR THE LAST DECADE, IF NOT THE LAST TWO OR THREE DECADES, THERE’S
BEEN AN ATTITUDE, ESPECIALLY IN THE BUSINESS WORLD, BUT NOT
EXCLUSIVELY SO, THAT IF YOU CAN ADVANCE YOURSELF AND YOUR COMPANY, AND
MANAGE TO KEEP MAKING MONEY, IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER HOW YOU GET
THERE. AFTER ALL, THE BOTTOM LINE IS ALL THAT’S IMPORTANT. WORKING
THE SYSTEM, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF AVERTED EYES OR SLEEPY MINDS,
CONDUCTING BUSINESS AWAY FROM PUBLIC SCRUTINY, AND RECOGNISING THAT
THERE IS NO HIPPOCRATIC OATH WHEN IT COMES TO MONEY AND BUSINESS, FOR
A GREAT DEAL OF TIME, IT SEEMS THAT ANYTHING GOES.

	 Less than three weeks ago, Wells Fargo and Company, for instance,
announced “that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf
(had) informed the Company’s Board of Directors that he (was)
retiring from the Company and the Board, effective immediately.”  3

	 Hmm, a little like locking the stable door, and not making any
mention of everything that had stacked up on the inside of the stable!
Or of what might be done for customers, for all those who felt coerced
to act in order to keep their jobs, or for all the people in other
businesses whose livelihoods were tied in with Wells Fargo and are in
precarious shape now. 

	 Too harsh? Well, “he still stands to walk away from the bank with
at least $102.7 million. That’s slightly more than five times what
he got paid in 2015, when people though he was doing a good job, and
not overseeing one of the most widespread frauds in banking
history.” 4

	Reaching out to help the disadvantaged without thought And he’ll
make even more. He retired before Wells Fargo’s board of directors
decided he needed to go, so the CEO will also hang onto $25.2 million
worth of unvested stock and options that could pay out for years to
come.

	 No wonder people wonder about the corporate world. No wonder people
seem to have little good to say about what seems to be the cost of
doing business. That’s what we were talking about last week. Devil
take the hindmost. That’s OK, I’ve got my millions, and I don’t
really care what happens to the rest of the community.

	 Nice sort of a fellow. Imagine making a place for him at your
Thanksgiving table in four weeks. Last week, we were musing about what
we’d like to do with folk like him, whether re-instituting the death
penalty or imprisoning for life without the possibility of parole
would be better. What DO you do when someone sets out to destroy the
lives of millions of people, either deliberately or totally
thoughtlessly?

	 Hold on to that thought for a minute. Jump back two thousand years.
As John Stumpf may be taken to stand for everyone today who cuts
corners, abuses trust and impoverishes people and communities in order
to amass such wealth that they’ll never be able to account for it
properly, so Zacchaeus. 

	 “The tax collector (was) the agent of Rome and not the agent of
God, ad the two can be seen as being at cross-purposes. The tax
collecter would have been presumed to have been corrupt, as we see
with Zacchaeus, who despite his righteousness, is despised by the
people of his town. The tax collector is not the repentant hero; he is
likely dishonest.”

	 But he didn’t occupy a “marginal position within society.”
“His problem is that he is a sinner, probably rich, an agent of
Rome, and, as a tax collector, (eshad) likely shown no mercy to
others.” 5

 EVERYONE HATED HIM. HE WAS SUCCESSFUL, WHILE MANY IN HIS COMMUNITY
WERE STRUGGLING TO KEEP THEIR FAMILIES TOGETHER. HE COULD AFFORD NEW
CLOTHES AND SEPARATE WARDROBES FOR SUMMER AND WINTER. HE COULD
PROBABLY HAVE VACATIONED DOWN BY THE COAST WHEN HE WISHED, AFTER ALL,
HE WAS THE LEAD COLLECTOR. HE’D HAVE FOLK UNDER HIM WHO HAD TO DO
HIS BIDDING, WHETHER THEY LIKED IT OR APPROVED OF IT OR NOT. HE WAS
TOTALLY DESPISED. BUT HAD HE CHOSEN HIS OWN PATH? HE DIDN’T HAVE TO
GO TO WORK FOR ROM, DID HE? HE DIDN’T NEED TO GOUGE AT THE TAX
TABLE, DID HE? HE DIDN’T NEED TO FORGET WHO HIS NEIGHBOURS WERE, OR
CLOSE HIS EYES TO WHAT HIS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR WERE DOING TO HIS
COMMUNITY?

 YET SOMETHING WAS GOING ON IN HIS LIFE. WAS HE SIMPLY CURIOUS ABOUT
THE ITINERANT RABBI OF WHOM HE’D HEARD? DID HE THINK HE MIGHT PICK
UP A FEW POINTERS FROM WATCHING HOW JESUS WORKED THE CROWD, SOMETHING
TO HELP HIM AMASS EVEN MORE?


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