Eastertide

June 4, 2019

Scripture Reading: Genesis 11:1-9

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

While this scripture is a puzzlement, I think it is trying to say what Lord Acton said a bit more succinctly in the mid-1800’s, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It is frightening how easy it seems for humans to slip into taking advantage of others simply because they can. Our checks and balances form of government was designed specifically to deflect that from happening in the representative democracy that was formed. We test that premise when one or more of the three areas of government seeks to conquer the others. Combining lust for power with rampant greed can have devastating results with which our government is struggling now. The history of the world does not report good outcomes for other nations that have fallen prey to out-of-control lust for power and greed. Rome’s government disintegrated because it failed to address health issues like the plague and the weather-related challenges of draughts and earthquakes while it continued to grow the greatest and mightiest military in the world.

Lust for power and greed start in the hearts and minds of individuals. They grow exponentially when those individuals come together to maximize their individual wealth. Like a Ponzi scheme they eventually implode negatively impacting everyone and everything in their path.

As followers of Christ we are called to a oneness that is the opposite of lust for power and greed. We are called to find common ground for the common good and that is true of our individual lives, our spiritual lives, and our civic lives.

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts and minds to any lust for power or greed that is driving our ambitions. Show us how we can grow together as good stewards of your world and all that is in it. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.