Greed

Sometimes the Sermon On The Mount becomes quite timely. Like today. Our country, and the world, is experiencing the worst pandemic crisis we’ve known in our lifetimes. Predictably, the experience is bringing out the best and the worst in us.

The best is displayed be the scientists, medical personnel, a public safety officials who are risking their lives be exposing themselves to the deadly virus that sweeps our planet. People are dying. Businesses are closed. Jobs are lost. Families face bankruptcies. The crisis is testing our faith in the systems on which we depend. Some families face not being able to buy food.

People turn to their religious leaders. What do they hear? Perhaps they hear the voice of the Galilean from that Judean hill:

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:7 NIV)

Perhaps they also hear the voices of TV evangelists who tell them they must keep sending money, even in the face of this unimaginable crisis, money to sustain the evangelists’ mansions and private jets.

Perhaps they see crowds, defying the exhortations of medical experts to remain at home during the crisis, gathering at mega-churches whose leaders defy logic, safety, and righteousness in equal measures.

Times like these make it easier to surpass the righteousness of some pharisees.