Could we withstand seven years with no harvests?
The UK imports 60% of its food – and amazingly if viewed by sector we import 45% of our vegetables and 83% of our fruit! As many of the countries from whom we import fruit and vegetables are prone to the adverse effects of climate change, food security for us as a nation is a concern. And for us as part of a global population, the adverse impacts of climate change of food security for many vulnerable communities should be an even greater concern.
What about our food security as individual households? Unlike in the past, many of us do not bottle, dry or otherwise preserve food to see us through the rest of the year. Nor do we tend to stock large quantities of staples such as flour, oats and rice. If they were a snow storm or flood such that the shops were closed for even a week, would we have enough food in our homes?
God has created a world which is constantly producing edible plants, fruits and seeds which serve to feed all manner of fauna including humans. Our love for God should be expressed in the grateful caring and sharing of this harvest – and that surely includes safeguarding the soil and the climate upon which the plants depend, and ensuring that throughout the seasons and during times of sufficiency and insufficiency, that food is fairly shared.
Jesus is quite clear in his teachings that love is not something that we reserve just for ourselves and our nearest and dearest. Echoing the challenge of last Sunday’s readings about the blessings of feeding the hungry rather than the woes of stashing away private wealth, today’s gospel tells us to love our enemies. To do good to those who hate and abuse us. To give without expecting anything in return – and in fact to give in an outrageously extravagant manner, giving more than is asked.
This may seem counter-intuitive to those of us who brought up to look after ourselves, to be self-sufficient, to safely garner wealth so that we won’t be needy. It is hard to give generously if we feel we can not trust that our own future needs will be met – and for me the fear is that even if I am generous, the financial institutions are not and will persist with their greater power to hoard more and more of the world’s wealth. But is that a self fulfilling approach that does not allow us to try the alternative of being truly generous now so that everyone can have enough – the poor as well as the rich, the bad as well as the good?
Each time we say the Lord’s Prayer we say ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done.’ God’s kingdom is surely the one where everyone shares generously what they have been given, so that all may have enough regardless of their merits? How do we get to that situation?
What will change global systems so that those with power and wealth can’t get and take more and more?
What will change global systems so that the needs of the poor and vulnerable are met? So that everyone can get enough food, live in a safe comfortable home, have access to education, employment and health care, have quality leisure time with access to green spaces and community events?
What will change global systems so that all nations and communities are treated with respect?
What will change global systems so that justice and peace prevail, so that we all cooperate for the common good?
Can we as Christians, who know we are weak and compromised, act upon Jesus’s instruction and be overwhelmingly generous with what we have to share? Can we respond to the words of the prayer he taught us and work to change systems – at what ever level: family/local/ community/ national – to enable God’s kingdom, God’s reign to prevail?
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there–since there are five more years of famine to come–so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.'”
And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42
1 Do not fret yourself because of evildoers; *
do not be jealous of those who do wrong.
2 For they shall soon wither like the grass, *
and like the green grass fade away.
3 Put your trust in the Lord and do good; *
dwell in the land and feed on its riches.
4 Take delight in the Lord, *
and he shall give you your heart’s desire.
5 Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him, *
and he will bring it to pass.
6 He will make your righteousness as clear as the light *
and your just dealing as the noonday.
7 Be still before the Lord *
and wait patiently for him.
8 Do not fret yourself over the one who prospers, *
the one who succeeds in evil schemes.
9 Refrain from anger, leave rage alone; *
do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil.
10 For evildoers shall be cut off, *
but those who wait upon the Lord shall possess the land.
11 In a little while the wicked shall be no more; *
you shall search out their place, but they will not be there.
12 But the lowly shall possess the land; *
they will delight in abundance of peace.
41 But the deliverance of the righteous comes from the Lord; *
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
42 The Lord will help them and rescue them; *
he will rescue them from the wicked and deliver them,
because they seek refuge in him.
1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50
Someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Luke 6:27-38
Jesus said, “I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
