Jesus the Economist
March-May 2009
Jesus was an economist. Jesus lived in a world dominated by the economy and the political powers that controlled the economy. He lived in a world of money, silver and gold coins, that represented value which could be traded for goods and services.
The world and times of Jesus were not much different than our modern times. There were kings, servants and slaves. There were merchants, money changers, soldiers, tax collectors, road builders, stone masons, carpenters, shepherds, farmers, metal workers, miners, fishermen, politicians, prostitutes, priests and bureaucrats.
At the time of Jesus, Israel was part of the Roman Empire. In older times the temple and the priests exerted more power. During the occupation by the Romans the church became subservient to the power of the state. Taxes were paid to Rome to keep the empire powerful and offerings were made to the priests to appease the power of God. The economy fed both church and state.
In the secular world then, as now, there were the very rich, a middle class, servants, slaves and a lot of poor. Capitalism was, as it is now, the ruling philosophy.
Money flowed upward. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer and more numerous. There was some socialism, in that taxes were collected to benefit the rulers and politicians, to maintain a growing military, to build roads and public buildings and provide public works jobs. Tax money, however, was not redistributed to the have-nots. Capitalism decided how goods and services were valued. Capitalism then like now values the real power of the abstraction of money more than goods and services, things and people. The rich have always controlled the rules and benefits of the capitalistic system.
Jesus developed and preached a new economic philosophy. He spoke out against the evils and injustice of the capitalistic system. He was a populist preacher speaking for the concerns of the economically oppressed and those left out of the system. Jesus was a man of empathy and compassion. Not only did he heal the sick, he was on a mission to heal the diseased social and economic system.
There are many references and statements recorded in the Gospels about the economic philosophy of Jesus. Quoting the Bible or quoting Jesus can be controversial. Quoters can be accused of taking the quotes out of context. Counter quoters can almost always find quotes arguing opposite views. In reviewing what the gospel writers quoted Jesus as saying, I believe that his economic philosophy and policies are clear, consistent, powerful and revolutionary. I believe it is time to listen to his words again.
When a rich man said he had faithfully followed the commandments and asked Jesus what more he could do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him: “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." (Luke 18:22) The rich man decided that he could not afford to be materialistically poor. He left Jesus and returned to his property and belongings.
Jesus said "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." (Matt. 19:23-24)
Jesus tells a story (Luke 21: 1-4) about two individuals making offerings at the temple. One was an old poor woman who humbly and anonymously gave two small copper coins, the other a rich man who made a show of giving a large amount. Jesus stated that the old woman's offering was the most worthy and valuable because it cost her personally to give it. Her offering was true sacrifice whereas the rich man could easily afford to give a large amount without it costing him any personal loss. The rich man's gift was given to receive praise and status in the community.
There was a situation where religious leaders and politicians tried to trick Jesus and involve him in political controversy. They asked him if it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not. "But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ' Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.' And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, 'Whose head is this, and whose title?' They answered, 'Caesar’s the emperor.' Then he said to them, 'Give therefore to Caesar the things that are the Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' (Matt. 22: 18-21)
Jesus knew that "No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth and money." (Luke 16:13)
When Jesus went to Jerusalem, he became angry at the bankers and money changers doing business in the Temple. He overturned their tables and drove them out of the temple. They were desecrating the Temple by their money making. Jesus wanted the Temple to remain a sacred place, a place for God and not business as usual. (Matt. 21: 12-13)
A lawyer once asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus responded, "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 a second is like it, "You shall Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt. 22: 37-40)
Jesus expounded further on this principle saying: "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." (Luke 6: 27-36)
In this next parable (Matt. 25: 14-46) Jesus tells a story about the difference between the world of business and the world of God. The first part of the story is known as the parable of talents. The second part of the story describes judgement day.
"For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, "Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents." His master said to him, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master." And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, "Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents." His master said to him, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master."
Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, "Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours." But his master replied, "you wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 25: 14-30)
This story has traditionally stood on its own and been interpreted to imply that we should wisely use and invest our money and "talents" that have been given or lent to us. If we do, we will receive more. Those who do not make money for their master will be judged by this world as worthless and be cast aside. I believe this parable by itself is not a metaphor about heaven but rather an accurate description of the capitalistic world of those times and our times. Jesus goes on to compare the difference between this world-view of making money for a rich master and a new world view based on giving to the needy poor.
'When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." Then he will say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they also will answer, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?" Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.' (Matt. 25: 31-46)
It is the two stories combined that form the larger parable about the way things are and the direction we need to go, both personally and as nations.
From all of the examples cited, it becomes clear that Jesus preached a new economic gospel. Jesus wanted a world where money served God, not a world where money was God.
Jesus did not particularly preach against having a government. He did say "give to Caesar what belong to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God." He certainly had strong opinions about what belonged to God. If there is a need to have a government, I believe Jesus would prefer a government that protects the poor people from the rich people rather than having a government that protects the rich people from the poor people. Jesus was an economist but he was no capitalist. He was more of a communist or a socialist in his economic thinking. Jesus wanted to redistribute the wealth. Jesus wanted wealth to benefit everyone, not just the rich. Jesus wanted everyone to give to those who were in need, to those who had less. Jesus wished that we all would give freely and willingly to our neighbors, to the poor, and to our enemies.
If Jesus thought a government could create wealth and redistribute wealth fairly through taxation policy, would he approve? Was Jesus trying to create a new economic philosophy and a new form of government that could do God's work on Earth? What would Jesus say if he were asked - How much is a fair tax to pay? Would he be in favor of a flexible tax rate that taxes the rich more than the poor, a tax rate based on one's ability to pay? And would he be in favor of an incentive to people who give to charities by offering them tax deductions? And would he prefer paying taxes to a democratic government where there is taxation with representation rather than paying taxes to a form of government without representation?
The bible doesn’t specifically say how Jesus would have answered these questions if he were asked. The leaders and politicians of those times had already heard enough of Jesus’ tax policy and economic philosophy to know that they did not want the masses to hear any more specifics. The rich rulers during the days of Jesus saw him as a threat, as a terrorist hell bent on leading a revolution to overthrow the rich and their capitalistic government and to usher in a new world order and a new way of doing business. They put an end to Jesus preaching against the corruptions of capitalism. The power of capitalism crucified Jesus. Ever since, the capitalists have feared that Jesus would return or a new Jesus would arise and do away with capitalistic economics.
The economic philosophy of communism arose in the 19th century and overthrew the rich czars of Russia in the early 20th century. Theoretically, Communism put the power of wealth and the means of production into the hands of the poor working masses, filtering it through the government. Communism was a direct threat to capitalism.
The Soviet Union's style of communism, however, fell into a system of control by a political oligarchy whose self interest created an inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy to protect themselves. This system spread to China and other nations.
During the last half of the 20th century America created, exported and infiltrated the world with independent multinational corporations to lead the world to a global capitalistic economy. This aggressively greedy super capitalism advocated free markets, no regulations, no taxes, governmental supports, cheap resources and cheap labor. This multinational capitalism created global institutions making independent decisions beyond the control of any government. It was this super capitalism that was part of the downfall of communism by converting Russia and China to capitalism. Some nations adopted socialism, a blend of capitalism with just enough communistic wealth redistribution to appease the masses so as not to overthrow the rich.
The other defeating factor involved with communism’s demise was America identifying it as the enemy. America manufactured a military to protect and expand its industrial interests. America spent vasts amounts of money to fight wars against its enemies: Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union, China via Korea and Viet Nam, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Iraq twice, and now terrorism! The Soviet Union could not compete and fell apart, leaving America as the only military Super Power left.
It is interesting that America’s military spending has been governmental funding collected mostly from working people’s income taxes. Much of the money is spent on weapon procurement from private corporations or outsourced private contractors. America's military might has always been sold to the American public as a necessity to defend ourselves from aggressive enemies and to spread democracy and "freedom" around the world. In reality most of our wars have been fought to protect our vital capitalistic interests and to perpetuate our privately owned, socialistically financed, military industrial corporate complex. It has always been in the best interest of America’s military interests to always find an enemy to fight. And these days anyone who voices concerns, criticisms or protests against capitalism is labeled a communist, a socialist or a terrorist.
The capitalistic system sells itself as the voice of freedom. Their message is that money equals freedom. If you have money you can buy what you want. The more money you have the more free you are to buy. Money also equals freedom of speech. The more money you have the more media voice you can buy to sell your message or your product. The more money you have the more political influence you can buy. The more money you have the more people you can hire to make you more money. The more money you have, the more money you can loan out to others to make money on interest, making money work for you without doing any real work.
Capitalism has always been based on a concept where, to satirize Adam Smith, wealth is generated by the invisible greedy hand of self interest grabbing all it can get. Capitalism is fueled by greed. Modern capitalism creates a fairy tale dream world where anyone can become rich. Consequently everyone allows the reality of capitalism to exist, a world where a very small number of super rich control an incredibly large number of poor people. The middle class is controlled by their debt to the rich.
Proponents of unregulated capitalism believe that capitalism inspires and motivates individuals to generate profit by producing consumer goods and services. They believe capitalism produces small businesses that compete against each other to produce the best products at the cheapest prices. Capitalism believes that the free market principle of supply and demand should set prices. Business failures create business opportunities for others. This happens either by new small businesses developing or existing businesses turning into bigger businesses.
At the beginning of the 20th century unregulated American capitalism created monopolistic big businesses with no competition. Government decided to step in to regulate businesses against becoming monopolies. At the beginning of the 21st century many business and financial institutions again had managed to get themselves deregulated to become big businesses too big to fail. Proponents of deregulation believed that profits made at the top would eventually trickle down to the bottom. Government again had to step in, this time to bail them out using socialistic spending from borrowed tax payers' money. It turned out again that money from the bottom would go to the rich at the top.
Capitalists believe that capitalistic economics do the best job of creating wealth, new jobs, demand for high standards of living, and constant growth. Free market unregulated capitalism is able to produce some extremely wealthy individuals, banks, and corporations because there is no limit to how much money one can make or how greedy one can be. Consequently our consumeristic capitalism produces desire and demand for more and more, generating envy of the rich and unhappiness with having less. Wanting more turns into needing more, which leads to making more, which generates more supply and more demand, creating more wealth for the wealthy and more jobs for the masses. Advocates of capitalism claim that the state regulated wealth redistributing systems of communism and socialism kill the motivation to become rich because there is no extra incentive for working harder, producing more and selling more.
Capitalists argue against social welfare spending because they fear that giving people goods and services will make them lazy and dependent and unwilling to work for cheap wages. They believe that without greed, people become lazy. Manipulating and exaggerating needs and wants can create greed. Capitalism feeds greed. Capitalism demands a constant supply of demand in order to constantly produce growth. Without growth, capitalism falls into a recession or a depression, or crashes and collapses.
Capitalism focuses on the individual. It believes that the individual is responsible for his or her fate. Monetary success or failure is in the hands of the individual. Those who do not succeed or do not survive are unfit and have only themselves to blame. Capitalism believes everyone should mind their own business. Capitalists do not want government to interfere by imposing regulations or taxes. They believe government is the problem. They see governmental controls as synonymous with socialism and communism. Consequently the government is the enemy. Capitalists believe the government robs individuals and corporations of their money by taxing profits or by regulating potential profits. Capitalists believe individuals should decide how to spend and invest their own money. Capitalists believe in growing the economy. They do not believe in growing the government. They do not want the government redistributing their money to programs to benefit the unfit. The capitalists believe that the government is greedy. They believe that governmental public greed interferes with individual private greed. Capitalists believe in the power of their money and have always found ways to buy, own and manipulate governments. This has been particularly true throughout America's history of democracy. America's democracy is a slave serving the capitalistic special self interests.
Capitalists favor individuals investing in stocks and pooling their money to form and own corporations. They are, however, against individual workers banding together to form unions in order to improve workers' wages, working conditions and to influence the corporations’ policies. Capitalists view individual workers as raw material, replaceable parts, and powerless slaves. Capitalists view unions as communistic threats trying to redistribute wealth and impose regulatory demands. Capitalists hate unions and try to prevent their formation and neutralize their power. For the capitalists, cheap labor means higher profits for the stock owners and managers.
A byproduct of capitalism and a consumeristic economy is pollution and the degradation of the environment. Capitalists do not take ownership of this byproduct. They fight any efforts by any governments to be held responsible for the damage they do. Here again they resist regulations that interfere with their profits. For the past 150 years the environment has been an inexhaustible source of free or cheap resources. Only recently and reluctantly has the world begun to realize the hidden costs of capitalistic consumerism. The capitalists are now busy trying to shift those costs onto consumers minimizing the impact on their profits.
Capitalism has ruled and dominated the world for thousands of years. The economic philosophy preached by Jesus had little to no effect in changing capitalism. Contemporary followers of Jesus believe that Jesus now lives in some heavenly place in outer space. The capitalists have helped Christians separate heaven from earth, church from state, and moral values from money matters. The economic beliefs of Jesus have long been forgotten and forsaken. They were buried when Jesus was crucified.
I wish to see the economic message of Jesus to be remembered and resurrected, to rise again and to return. Perhaps his preaching on economics would be better received during these worldwide times of financial crisis. Perhaps his words can still teach us something about a better way of doing business and a better way of living. Perhaps his words can save us from the hell we've created for ourselves by believing in the money god of capitalism.
We have recently seen the crash of Wall Street and the collapse of capitalism worldwide. This wasn’t the result of a few bad banks or a few rotten individuals or corrupt corporations. It is the economic philosophy of capitalism that is deeply flawed. Modern capitalism has created a system that has programmed all of us to be greedy beyond our needs, to constantly consume, and to accumulate more and more. Capitalism teaches us to worship money and to idolize those with the most money. It teaches us that those with the most money must be the smartest and most capable, consequently we should trust them and give them the power to run the system. With this recent collapse of capitalism governments have bailed out banks and corporations and provided socialistic spending to stimulate consumer spending. I'm afraid that most of the billions and trillions of dollars spent by the governments has been aimed at propping up the capitalistic system promoting a recovery that returns to capitalistic business as usual.
Capitalism creates enormous inequities of wealth. I am not advocating that we all become equally miserably poor, but rather that there be limits on how rich or how poor anyone could be. We need an economic system that recognizes basic human needs and guarantees human rights. This system needs to be based on sustainability, not continuous exploitive growth susceptible to cycles of boom and bubbles that bust. We need an economic system that values all nature, not just human nature.
Currently in America the wealthiest 1% of families control 34% of the nation's wealth. The top 5% control more wealth than the bottom 95%. Americans comprise only 4% of the world's population, yet consume 25% of its resources and produce 25% of its global warming carbon dioxide.
America must change its capitalistic ways. If a theoretical democracy cannot realize its power to change the capitalistic ownership society where the rich own and control society, then what chance is there for change? Or what good, then, is that democracy? I believe we need a more permanent revolution in our economic way of thinking and acting.
The words of Jesus provide a foundation for changing earthly economics forever. His economic vision for this world was for the good of all, not the private wealth of a few. I believe he believed that the rich have taken from the poor; that profit is made at the expense of the poor. He taught that the rich should give to the poor and that no matter how rich or poor you are there is always someone more poor than you who needs your help. It's difficult for any of us to give up our riches. Capitalism makes it unthinkable. The time has come, however to rethink capitalism. We are living at a time when we can no longer think only of ourselves. We must think of the common good of the whole world.
I wish to see the wealth of the world distributed by an economic system based on need rather than a capitalistic system based on greed. If that involves a form of government of all the people, for all the people, and by all the people and not just of the rich for the rich, so be it. If that government needs to tax the rich and regulate business to create an economy fair to all, so be it. And if the government needs to create programs or own and manage certain means of production to benefit the common good, so be it. We need to ask not what the government can do for the rich, but what the government can do for all the poor.
Jesus wanted and encouraged people to freely give of their wealth. He wasn't opposed to paying a fair share of taxes to Caesar. Perhaps he believed it was a patriotic duty to pay taxes. I believe he would have much preferred the money be spent by the government on the common good rather than to profit the rulers and expand the military industrial Roman empire.
The capitalistic ownership society that focuses on the accumulation of private property and individual wealth makes us blind to the needs of others. The economy as a whole would be healthier if it focused on helping everyone get more of what they need rather than forcing everyone to compete against everyone else to get all that they want to become rich.
From a strictly capitalistic perspective the economic views of Jesus make a lot of sense and may make for good capitalistic policy. We have an example of how this works. In the past 50 years the capitalists have capitalized on the birthday of Jesus. They have made it into a consumeristic holiday of gift giving to our family, friends, and loved ones. The day after Thanksgiving is the official beginning of the gift buying binge.
That day is now known as black Friday. It is on that day that many retail business accounting books move from a negative red deficit number to a positive black profit. Through the act of giving the economy is stimulated to grow. We have many other special days where we are encouraged to give to those we love: Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Valentines Day, birthdays, anniversaries and weddings.
What would Jesus think if he were to return and find his birthday turned into a consumeristic stimulus spending splurge of present buying for loved ones? Perhaps he would smile and be honored or humored by our sentiments. Maybe he would see that we were finally beginning to realize his economic philosophy of giving. And at the same time he might be disappointed that we didn't yet fully realize what it meant to really give, to truly love. Perhaps again he would say, "Love your enemies...”
In honor of Jesus, I propose we create a symbolic holiday of giving to our neighbors, to the poor, to our enemies and to social programs. A variety of gift giving could happen on this day. Money or presents of necessities could be given directly to the needy. Or, gifts of money and time could be given to charity organizations. Perhaps free will donations could be given to governmental programs that aid the poor or save and improve the environment or improve our “neighborhood”. People could give away their own possessions. Time could be given to help the poor. Amends could be made to our enemies and gifts be given to them. We could return what we stole from others. Debts could be forgiven. It could be a day of teaching about the need and necessity to give every day. This day would be aimed not at stimulating growth in the economy but in sustaining our local and world communities. This day would be a day of wealth redistribution, of wealth recycling and a day of creating new wealth, particularly for the poor. July 25th would be a good day for a holiday of giving. Christmas in July.
Although inspired by the words of Jesus, this day wouldn't need to be associated only with Christianity. All religious wisdom traditions have imperatives to help those in need. Perhaps July 19th could be the giving holiday, or September 30th or March 5th, or the first Monday in August. We need at least one day a year to look around us and recognize all those in need; one day at least to recognize all the greed in the world; one day to begin to do something about it. And why not while we’re at it, make every day a giving day?
Our current capitalistic system is immoral. Capitalism has corrupted human nature and is killing the planet. We can no longer afford this type of economy. We can no longer think only of our own needs and wants and then compete against everyone else in order to survive. We need to evolve our economic way of living. We need to learn to love all our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. We need to make peace with our enemies. We need to help everyone meet their basic needs. We need to help each other develop our special talents and abilities for giving and making the world a better place to live for everyone. This involves thinking of the common good, the public good, and the environmental good, instead of only thinking about our own materialistic self centered interests. Instead of using Adam Smith’s invisible hand to take from others, we will extend our own hand to others in friendship and cooperation and offer our assistance.
Capitalism as we know it is ending. The economic philosophy of Jesus offers us a new way forward.