Turning Our Treasures into the Channel of Universal Love
A Reflection for ICUJP by Anthony Manousos
How we spend our money is an indicator
of our moral and spiritual values. That’s why Jesus said, “Where your treasure
is, that’s where your heart will be” (Mathew 6:28). The
Abrahamic faiths require us to set aside
a portion of our wealth to help the poor. Christians call it a “tithe.” Muslim
call is “zakat.” The Jewish term is Tzedakah. I found a great explanation of Tzedakah on Jewish website.
“Tsedakah is a central
tenet of Judaism and a pillar upon which the world stands. The word tzedakah actually means “justice” or “righteousness.” There is
an important nuance here. In Jewish thought, giving to people in need is not
something extra; it’s just the correct, honest thing to do. Our money is not
ours. It belongs to G‑d, who has graciously entrusted it to us. It is only right for
us to distribute it as He wishes, sharing it with His needy children.
This understanding that giving is a
moral imperative is shared by all the Abrahamic faiths.
Early Christians took very seriously the
idea that everything belongs to God and we should do all we can to end poverty.
When Christians first gathered to worship in Jerusalem, they were filled with
the Holy Spirit and the first thing they did was sell their homes and possessions
and create a fund to aid the poor and eliminate poverty.
This Christian ideal inspired the 18th
century Quaker abolitionist John Woolman. Seeing a lot of his fellow Quakers
had become wealthy and successful in business, Woolman said, “To turn all our
treasures into the channel of Universal Love is the business of our lives.”
This moral imperative to help the poor applies
not only to individuals but also to society. How our tax dollars are allocated testify
to our nation’s moral values. Dr. King famously said,
“A nation that continues year after year to
spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift, is
approaching spiritual death. I knew that America would never invest the
necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures
like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic
destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an
enemy of the poor.”
During the Vietnam war period, a powerful video was made about how our tax
dollars are being misspent on war rather than on human needs:
Share
this video:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1491223775864163
Today the situation is worse than ever,
as you know. Donald Trump began his reign of error by slashing foreign aid,
potentially causing millions of deaths. Then he started cutting aid for Americans
in need. He is now asking Congress to boost defense spending to $1.5
trillion, a 50% increase. He is also asking Congress to cut non-military
spending by 10%. Trump explained: “We’re fighting wars…. It’s not possible for us to take care of day
care, Medicaid, Medicare — all these individual things. They can do it on a
state basis. You can’t do it on a federal.”
This is the opposite of what Jesus stood for. Jesus came to proclaim
“good news to the poor.” Trump, the anti-Christ, is proclaiming good news to
the plutocrats and militarists.
I’d like
to close with the famous speech about the arms race that President Eisenhower gave
in 1953 that is still relevant today:
Every gun that is made,
every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a
theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not
clothed.
This world in arms is not
spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of
its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber
is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric
power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully
equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a
single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single
destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
…. This is not a way of
life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is
humanity hanging from a cross of iron. These plain and cruel truths define the
peril and point the hope that come with this spring of 1953.
Eisenhower’s words ring truer today than ever before. As Dr. King said, we need a revolution of values and that revolution starts with us. Tomorrow is my birthday and I’d like to encourage you to give as generously as you can to your favorite charity or cause: ICUJP, Making Housing and Community Happen, or whatever you feel led to support. Give as much as you can and then urge your elected officials to use your tax dollars for peace not war. Let’s turn our treasures into the channel of Universal Love
