The Theology of Prosperity

" Brothers and sisters: As a body is one, though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body; so also, Christ.
For, in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Now the body is not a single part, but many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or, if an ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I do not need you', nor again the head to the feet, 'I do not need you.' . . But, God has so constructed the body, that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it. --[1 Corinthians 12: 12-30].

  This passage was first written by Paul, as an argument that Gentiles, who did not start out life as circumcised Jews, were just as welcome at Jesus' table, as the Israelites who descended down through the Old Testament House of David.

Today, this Scripture has much more far reaching implications than who is welcome at the altar, to partake in the Eucharist.

Mother Teresa used to say, "If we have no Peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." She was pointing out that we are ALL brothers and sisters in Christ. If we remembered this, and lived in such a way, there would be no racism, no violence against each other, no wars.

Martin Luther King, similarly, said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

But, these passages are talking about a whole lot more than world peace or racial justice. They are going to the heart of what it means to be Christian!

I remember vividly the talk around the dinner table in my parents' house, when I was growing up. The rhetoric consisted of "Us vs. Them". People who were poor,  people of color, immigrants, minorities were spoken of as "Those People." It was as if we had been invaded by aliens from a distant and dangerous planet.

The saddest part of this is that my parents could not look at, and fully accept, their own immigrant history; including, most especially, the Irish roots on my father's side of the family.  After my paternal grandfather died, my father left her alone, to her own devices, in a place far away from us.

The corollary to "Us vs. Them" was the argument that, since we were educated and were not poor, that somehow, we were cosmically favored.  My father used to say that our family was superior in every way. My brother and I would laugh at how preposterous that sounded. But my father would say, 'Why ARE you laughing? I am deadly serious.' -- Honestly? This kind of talk used to hurt my feelings as a child. It STILL does. . .

Vast swathes of Americans today believe that 1) they are Christian; 2) that their comfortable life means that God has somehow favored them or that they know a better "way"; and 3) that this somehow makes them superior. Thus, these "faux Christians" believe that they are in the right to snub those who are poor or marginalized.  This is the Theology of Prosperity.

Yes, in the Old Testament, God says, "See, I have set before you today, life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, then you shall live and the Lord your God will bless you. But, if your heart turns away and you do not hear, then you shall perish. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses."--[Deuteronomy 30:15-20].

BUT, prosperity alone does not prove God's favor. We are not blessed because we are prosperous. We are prosperous, because we are blessed by God -- for following His commandments.

God powerfully commands, in the Old Testament, "You shall love your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" -- [Deuteronomy 6:5].  And, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." --[Leviticus 19:19].

These commandments become, in The New Testament, Jesus'  "Greatest Commandment":  "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment, and the second is: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' " --[Matthew 22:37.]

Paul takes things a step further. He says that if we treat others rudely, and as not part of the whole body of the church, of God's world, then it is as if we are cutting our own hands off.  We are treating our hands as if they do not belong to the body. But imagine if you cut off your own hand? The rest of your body would be in agony.

I have encountered a lot of rudeness in life, and oftentimes from people who call themselves Christians. Once, in the last month of my senior year in college, I did a little experiment. I let out word that there were some prominent and accomplished persons in my family history. Suddenly, fellow students who had never had the time of day for me, were flocking around, making a big fuss. But, I was the same person before I revealed these things about my family, as I was afterwards.

IF someone treats you differently depending on whether they think you are black or white, educated or simple, rich or poor-- then, they cannot consider themselves as truly Christian; for, they are violating the Greatest Commandment. Jesus treated the Samaritan woman the same as the high priests; and the tax collectors and sinners the same as the holy.

And, there is nothing worse than a Christian hypocrite -- the kind of person who sits in the front pew on Sunday, but snubs you on the way going out.  Pope Francis has called hypocrisy perhaps the worst of sins, " a virus; "it does not have a color, but rather play with halftones. It creeps in and seduces with the charm of the lie."  (That is about as perfect a description of Satan as I have ever heard. )

The next time that someone is rude to me, all the while calling herself Christian, I will offer a mysterious smile and say, "I love you, too! Body of Christ."  Then, I will walk away.

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