“Wealth, Compassion, and the Kingdom of God” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, October 13, 2024, Year B / Pentecost 21 (Proper 23) -  Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 and Psalm 90:12-17 - Hebrews 4:12-16 - Mark 10:17-31

THEME:  Compassion brings joy and points to the Kingdom of God.

For a moment, picture yourself as a member of the ruling class in Israel around the year 750 BC. Times are good. King Jeroboam II is on the throne. His army has finally defeated those pesky Syrians once and for all.  Now the Kingdom is back to the size it was in Solomon’s day, 200 years before. There is prosperity in the land. People are feeling good – at least those who have wealth and influence, which includes most of your friends. But beneath this veneer of prosperity and security lies a terrible secret. Those in the ruling class are bribing the courts to render favorable judgments in order to squeeze the very last shekel out of the poor. As a result, the poor cannot feed themselves or their families. They struggle to survive. But it is easier for the folks you know to ignore this uncomfortable fact. When the topic comes up, if it comes up at all, they blame the poor themselves. Surely, they must be lazy. They must lack initiative or, even worse, they must be immoral. Why else would God make them suffer? 

Such is the chatter you overhear at the lavish parties your friends throw. Then talk turns to a strange man named Amos, a sheep breeder from Tekoah, down south. Lately, Amos has been making quite a name for himself as a prophet of Yahweh. Prophets like Amos are God’s spokespeople. They relay to the people the message God speaks to them. And God has made it crystal clear to Amos that he is not happy with Israel. The offense is callous disregard and exploitation of the poor. As Amos puts it, the ruling class sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth.

God has had enough. No matter how good things are for the wealthy and powerful in the present moment, God’s punishment is coming. And it will be devastating.  But it’s not all gloom and doom. There may still be time to avert the worst of it. The question is how? The answer is repentance.

Amos tells the people to change their ways. “Seek the Lord and live,” he says, “Seek good, not evil.” Then, he says it again, even more strongly. “Hate evil, and love good.”  He is talking about more than mere feelings. God wants his people to have a change of heart and a change of direction. He wants them to develop a disposition that results in righteous behavior, especially providing justice to the least. In a word, God wants his people to cultivate compassion. Few people alive today have had more to say about the importance of compassion than the Dalai Lama, who famously said, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.  Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

Compassion is, of course, a core value common to all major religions. As Christians, you and I celebrate what I consider to be the single greatest example of all. God chose to become one of us in Jesus Christ. Jesus was not just fully God. He was also fully human. He shared all our joys and all our suffering, even to the point of dying on a cross so that we might have life. That is the literal definition of compassion: to suffer with others. From that one divine act of loving compassion, new life became a reality for you and me. Not just any life, but a life in which God is our constant companion, a life in which we can thrive as God intends us to do. God wants us to be happy. Compassion is essential for happiness. And in ways that are more profound than we might think. When we think of compassion, our first thoughts are usually about being on the receiving end. In our suffering, someone steps in to share our pain. We know we are not alone, and our spirit is lifted. That is a gift.

But the greater gift that compassion brings is felt more in the giving than in the receiving. When we take the bold step to enter into someone else’s suffering to help carry their pain, showing compassion inevitably leads to connection. That connection sets us on the road to greater happiness, too. The Dalai Lama put it this way. He said, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” Compassion leads to connection, and connection leads to happiness. But we can go even further. Compassion takes us beyond happiness. Compassion leads to joy.

Earlier this week, I ran across a book the Dalai Lama co-authored with the late Archbishop of South Africa, Desmond Tutu. The title is “The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World.”  The two of them were great friends.  In April 2015, Desmond Tutu flew to India to help the Dalai Lama celebrate his 80^th birthday. They hatched an idea to have a dialogue that would be the basis of a book. Together, they reflected on their long lives of faith in order to answer the question that all of us ask from time to time.  How do we find joy in the face of life’s inevitable suffering? They came to the conclusion that joy comes not from pursuing material things, but from living in community. It comes from serving others, seeking justice, and living with love, gratitude, and compassion.  In their conversation, Desmond Tutu made a distinction between happiness and joy. He said, "Joy is much bigger than happiness. While happiness is often . . .  dependent on external circumstances, joy is not." In other words, Joy is a fundamental disposition, a constant orientation. And the root of joy is compassion.

You can see that joy in the video taken during their time together. Their laughter was infectious. They teased each other mercilessly, like a couple of brothers. The respect and admiration they each held for the other was clear. Equally clear was their sense of joyous fun. That is what happens when compassion leads to connection, and connection takes us to happiness and beyond - to joy. Just as God intended. Compassion is what the Israelite elites lacked in Amos’ day. And it is what we all need in our world today.

It is no secret that, as a society, we have allowed ourselves to become divided. The most obvious separation is political, of course. But there is no shortage of other sources of division. The wealth gap is the largest it has been for a century. Racism continues to raise its ugly head, and discrimination based on age, gender and sexuality still prevents millions from thriving. Those with influence and wealth are, now as ever, willing to pull the strings of power to benefit themselves at the expense of the powerless. Were he alive today, this would all look very familiar to Amos. The French have an expression that applies here. “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.  And the remedy is also the same.  Repentance and compassion are what God wants from you, me, and all of us.

It is tempting, especially in this super-charged, hyper-political season, to focus on large-scale systemic solutions to address these injustices. But that is not the place to begin.  The place to begin is inside of ourselves. True, lasting change only happens from the inside out. So, the place to begin is by changing our own hearts. That starts when we change our habits. John Dryden, England’s very first poet laureate, famously said, "We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” Cultivating compassion starts by developing three habits.

Habit number one is listening. It has been said that actively listening to another, with our full attention and without judgment, is one the greatest gifts we can give to another human being. Habit number two is becoming more positive. That means intentionally practicing kindness, encouragement, and support. We all know people who do this routinely. For most of us, our parents did this. We think of these as positive people.  We are drawn to people like this. It is astounding what can happen to our relationships when we, too, become more positive. Habit number three is being willing to accept others for what they are and forgive them for what they are not. This is not always so easy, but the alternative is far worse. Nelson Mandela famously said, “Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Becoming more accepting and forgiving frees us to be more compassionate.

Friends, what might happen if we all began to listen better, and become more positive and more accepting of others?  How might your relationships change? What about the world around us? Would it suddenly become a more compassionate, loving, and joyous place like the Kingdom of God? 

I don’t know. But I do know this: our portion of it certainly would.

May it be so.