It has been quite the eventful summer! A PhD in May (I’m that much smarter now, which means you should be even more skeptical of my claims), a move in June, a baby in July (yes, the two are related, and welcome Dylan James), and a serious influx of new staff in August. Time now to get back in the blogging saddle (thanks to Karen Ward, Jessica Nipp, and the other World Hunger staff who kept this afloat in my absence!). Since this is my first post in a while, I think I will make a quick return to my comfort zone–the Bible and theology. For future posts, I would love to hear from you what topics you would like me to explore. Leave comments or drop me an email and I will offer my best thinking in my weekly post.
Last Sunday’s text (Matthew 20:1-16) offered a serious challenge to our sense of fairness (curiously, the junior member of the pastoral staff had to preach in my church…). In this parable, Jesus describes how those who worked all day were paid the same wage as those who only worked for an hour. We have all heard the well-worn (and often enough baseless) justifications for apathy towards poverty—people are hungry or poor because they are lazy, don’t manage money well, or somehow deficient. Their hunger and poverty is their fault. Aside from the fact that claims such as these are woefully imprecise, this parable invites us to rethink notions of justice. God gives freely to all, as God wishes. Might the people of God have the same call when it comes to hunger? Even if the above-mentioned biases prove true, are we still called to share? Does this parable speak somehow to the widespread poverty and hunger we face in our day? Let me know what you think!
David Creech
