Mark 8:34-35
There
have been two financial trends that have caught my attention in the last few
years: the failure of the housing market and the ratio of CEO to worker pay.
The measure of financial success used to be the owning of a home, especially
when it was paid off. People would have a mortgage burning party when the last
payment was accepted and the note was paid in full. Owning the home meant
security. It meant there was something to pass to future generations.
The
other trend I have noticed is the ration of CEO pay compared to the average
worker. The US now has the highest ratio of CEOs anywhere in the world. The
ratio here is 475:1. The next highest is 50:1. What this means in simple terms
is that the CEO on average gets paid 475 times more than the average worker. A
quick example. The CEO of UnitedHealth Group makes $101 million dollars a year
while the average worker makes $59,000, a ration of 1737:1.
Capitalism
in this form is just as sinful and ungodly as Socialism, Sharia law or Communism.
The few are stealing from the rest of us. They are stacking the deck in such a
way that they get all the benefits while paying few of the costs. Like global
warming spokespeople flying around the world repeatedly in their private jets
and limousines from their multiple mansions, all the while preaching that we
need to cut down on green house gas emissions.
So
what is the answer to the selfishness of man? Jesus said to Peter, the rest of
the disciples and the crowd, that the cross is the answer. The cross is the
ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate thinking of someone else’s need before even
considering our own. It is laying everything down so that someone else gets the
benefit.
Discipleship
is costly. Jesus tells us that it is necessary for us to take up our cross.
This must be more than a dangle worn around our neck, or a bumper sticker on
our car, or the radio station we listen to as a way to declare our faith when
someone goes for a ride with us. The cross must be a burden, a weight under
which we barely move, perhaps even stumbling along the way.
The
cross is about loss. I can imagine a CEO taking up his cross and giving up his
pay and spreading his salary out over all the employees. This would mean giving
up his big house and cars and boat and vacation homes and dining at the finest
restaurants. This would be back to grocery store shopping on the way home from
work. It would cost them much and the benefits would be spread to the many.
But
I don’t want to talk about the CEO. I want to talk about us. What does our
cross look like? What burden do we carry that almost crushes us, a burden that
leads to other’s needs being met while ours go unfulfilled.
Cut
it out, Stan! It was OK when you were talking about those greedy CEOs, but now
you are just being mean. It is OK to talk about “them,” but now you want to
point your finger in my direction, and I don’t like it.
Jesus
told even the people in the crowd that they had to take up their cross or they
would lose their life. It wasn’t just the few who were called upon for this
type of sacrifice, but every follower of Jesus. The cross is something that we
must embrace for ourselves. It is not a cross if the government imposes it on
us. Mandating CEO pay ratios does not solve the heart problem. And Jesus wants
to deal with the heart, our heart, as well as the CEO.
Now
I have to admit that I am in the middle of a personal struggle right along with
you. I want to be willing to take up this kind of sacrifice and gain life, but
I enjoy my comfort. So pray for me as I pray for you. Jesus is calling us to
lives where we look at the other’s needs as a higher priority than our own. We
say a big “NO!” to our needs and a big “YES!” to the needs of others.