Children of light

The Christian commitment, we are reminded this Sunday, is a religious commitment as much as it is political and social. As believers, in whatever we do, we are responsible to God and society alike.

This is the message in today's readings from Amos the prophet and from Luke. Amos speaks with derision of those who combine ritual with iniquity. It is a stunning condemnation. The juxtaposition of observing ritual as practising Christians while waiting till cheating and exploitation can be resumed, is a contradiction. "No servant can serve two masters", we read in Luke today.

Luke reports one of the most intriguing parables of Jesus about someone who is fired from work for mismanagement and corruption. Coming to know that he was fired, this manager, in order to secure grateful clients for himself when in need, started reducing the amounts owed to his master. And we read textually: "The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness". At first sight it seems to suggest that the master is approving of this steward's immoral behaviour. But this is surely not what the parable intends to convey.

What the text seems to suggest is that as children of light, we cannot afford to be naïve in the midst of corruption and in the way we understand politics. We need to be clever administrators of whatever we are trusted with. "For the children of this world are more clever in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light."

The Spirit empowers us to stand up and be counted: to stop corruption where there is corruption, to speak up where it is sinful to remain silent, to interrupt practices at the place of work which tend to become acceptable just because it's the way things are normally done. Where justice is concerned, particularly where the dignity of the poor and needy is trampled upon, we can all be guilty bystanders. We may easily make ourselves believe that our hands are clean. But remaining silent and with eyes closed, may make of us accomplices in the perpetuation of evil, creating further dissonance between our liturgies and our business relations and practices.

It is interesting in today's readings that while the prophet speaks of iniquity as arousing the anger of the Lord, Paul in the second reading, writing to Timothy, invites us all to lift up our hands reverently in prayer, "with no anger or argument". Injustice, iniquity, corruption, racism, terrorism, all arouse anger in us. But it is not with anger that we are to set things right. We have records of angry prophets, even in recent and contemporary history, who enter politics denouncing injustice and corruption and, once in power, become power corrupt themselves. It's a vicious circle. And we are called in the first place to interrupt that circle as children of light.

Again, Paul's advice in the second reading still makes a lot of sense in our social and political contexts, where he says "there should be prayers offered for everyone, and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet".

In the midst of all that transpires from the world of politics today, and in connection with the genuine struggle of many to build a more just and humane world, perhaps it is our call today to experience how prayer, rather than alienation, can indeed lead to in-depth reading of the signs of the times and, in turn, to choices that can be loud and clear as the harshest of revolutions. As Abraham Heschel writes: "Man can remain callous, but God cannot keep silent."