Many junior doctors I’ve spoken to say that the number of hours they have to work is unfair. However the system never changes as senior doctors think it’s unfair to change the system as they “had to go through it” even though they hated it at the time. Many students I speak to worry about the amount of student debt they face but when there is discussion over cancelling it, those who have paid theirs off complain that this would be unfair to them even though they struggled to do so. No one who receives Newstart thinks it’s enough to live on but suggest increasing it to a liveable amount and there’s outcry about “dole bludgers” and why those who work hard shouldn’t have to subsidise others. I wonder why it is that if you are the victim of an unfair system, you long to change it, but if you manage to get out from underneath it, you long to maintain it?
In our reading today, Jesus challenges an unfair system. In order to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem you had to buy an animal to sacrifice and pay a Temple tax for the upkeep of the structure. This meant that those who could not afford this were prevented by their social standing from worshipping God. God came as Jesus to make God more accessible, not less. Jesus recognised these rules created an unfairness in preventing some from worship and so abolished them at a stroke. Those who benefited from the system were naturally outraged but those who suffered under it could now rejoice and worship God freely. To understand what Jesus is doing involves seeing the world as God does and not as the world does.
Our world values money and status and this is reflected in some churches. There is a tendency to see money as God’s blessing on the righteous and poverty as God’s judgment on the unrighteous. Those who are on the top believe they are there because they deserve to be there and those on the bottom just need to “work harder” or “get a better job”. While the poor seek “handouts” the wealthy receive “grants” and “entitlements”. There’s a complete unwillingness to see that some of the structures we have created reinforce unfairness. If we see the world as Jesus does, that everyone is valued and loved, that everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect, we will work to change unfair systems. As the saying goes, everyone has the same potential but not everyone has the same opportunity. As Christians, we are called to work for a fair and just society that offers all the same opportunities to everyone regardless of income or social grouping. As Christians we are also called to challenge and dismantle systems that lead to unfairness and injustice.