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Perspective


DESIGNPICS/MICHAEL D. WATSON An economy of grace


‘God’s lavish kindness couldn’t be more contrary to societal norms’


By Ray Pickett I


n these difficult economic times, people, states and nations find themselves negotiating the chal- lenges of increasing debt and dimin- ishing resources.


The poor have faced these strug- gles in every time and place through- out the ages. What distinguishes this particular economic crisis is that it threatens the habits and quality of life of the middle class to the extent that many people, if not most, need to recali- brate their expectations and assump- tions regarding property, possessions, security, retirement and so on. Although this economic downturn has been the cause of acute hard-


Pickett is a professor of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Submit responses to lutheran@thelutheran.org.


ship and distress, it also provides an opportunity for us to take a fresh look at our lives in the light of our faith commitments and practices. Jesus has a good deal to say about how our trust in the Creator should impact our relationship to the material world, our fellow human beings and the future.


But Jesus didn’t simply throw out a few ideas about how individuals could better manage their money so as to give more to the poor. Rather, he challenged the very underpin- nings of a Greco-Roman society that undermined the dignity, agency and freedom of ordinary folks and imparted an alternate vision of life in community that he called the king- dom of God. That Jesus proclaimed and


enacted the kingdom of God in a 32 The Lutheran • www.thelutheran.org


society in which approximately 90 percent of the people struggled to eke out enough to feed themselves and their families with little or no surplus is reflected in the prayer he teaches his followers: “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). In a world where people were dependent on patrons and benefactors for sustenance, Jesus exhorts his followers to trust God for the necessities of life. But the prayer continues with a request to “release us from our sins even as we release those who are indebted to us” (Luke 11:4, my translation). For people whose lives are marked by debt and obli- gation, Jesus suggests that our own release from sin is inextricably tied to our embodiment of God’s grace in our dealings with one another. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus


acclaims God as generous and eager to give good gifts to all. This depiction of God’s lavish kindness couldn’t be more contrary to soci- etal norms, and yet the economy of the kingdom is founded on imitat- ing God’s magnanimous character in our interpersonal relations: “Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again … lend, expecting nothing in return ... and you will be children of the Most High” (Luke 6:30, 35). This advice seemed as absurd and impractical then as it does now: it’s not only counterintuitive but also contrary to ancient and contemporary economic systems in which people competed for scarce resources.


More than enough


Jesus reveals a Creator who pro- vides an excess of loaves and fishes. He promotes a subversive wisdom that challenges an eco- nomics of scarcity with the prom-


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