Living in the Spirit
November 6, 2016

Scripture Reading: Matthew 24:36-44

But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. –Matthew 24:43-44

The thief is already here as is the Son of Man. I think Jung would say the potential for relationship with both resides in each of our beings. It is our choice whether we follow the one or the other. The more we follow the thief, the emptier we become as the thief robs us of our God-imaged selves. The Son of Man brings wholeness to sin-sick souls.

News reports flash images of people struggling with who they are and why their world seems to be falling apart. They are angry and striking out at anyone they might be able to blame. The work of their parents no longer exists. There are no factories in which to work and earn a living wage. The coal mines may cause more harm than good. They probably have forever, but they keep food on the table. Where is justice? The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. We only keep anarchy at bay with our food stamps and other subsidies. The poor can particularly identify with the Israelite slaves in Egypt when their slave masters demanded more and more bricks made with less and less straw.

I was a waitress in high school and college earning money to pay tuition while working with women who were supporting families with the same income. When I did this work in the mid-1960’s earning the minimum wage provided an income for a small family above the poverty line. Even back then the minimum wage for waitresses was lower than for others. We were expected to top off our incomes with tips. The minimum wage in 2016 is $7.50 an hour. The living wage for one adult and one child is $20.57*. Where is justice?

We as followers of Christ are called to do justice. The time is now.

Prayer: God of Mercy and Justice, instill in us the will and show us the way to create a just world. Amen.

*http://livingwage.mit.edu/states/40

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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.