Monday, November 20, 2017

Luke 19:15 -- On Trading and God's Economics

"And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading."
Luke 19:15


This is part of the parable of the pounds, which is almost identical to the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.  What struck me today about this is the idea of trading or bartering.  I think a lot of times I think of financial things as one way transactions, even though by their very nature they are two way.  Maybe just the mindset or something... buying things always makes me think that I will be inevitably cheated, and given something of little worth in return for something that it took a long time for me to earn.  (Likely selfish and paranoid; not saying this is a healthy outlook.)

The word trade here though sends my mind in a different direction... I think of bartering, of people sharing what they have, and everyone benefiting rather than it being one-sided.  Everything seems a little bit more Zion-like, with no one trying to squeeze extra profit out of me. :)  And, when I think of God granting us talents/abilities/strengths, which is what the money is symbolic of here, I wonder... why did he give us different things?  Why am I strong in some things and weak in others, while someone else might be the opposite?  Why do we have different numbers of talents?  The answer, as usual, is so that we could learn... but I think it is *also* so that we could trade.  I don't think that God has ever truly wanted us to be unequal, but his plan for helping us to be equal is giving us things to share with each other... and if we do, then we are all rich.  ... Maybe that isn't a sound economic principle, but in God's accounting, it works well.

To get to that point, we (I) have to stop thinking about other people as though they were always trying to take advantage, and instead think of them as part of our own group or family... people that we want to share with and help to be successful.  If we can catch that vision, then we'll never be resentful of what we barter with each other... whatever we have, we will gain more, and whatever they have, they will gain more.  The only way to lose (opposite from the lesson that War Games taught us) is not to play--to bury our talent, or lay our pound up in a napkin, never sharing it.

Today, let's think of each other as brothers and sisters, as we truly are, and let's reach out and share and trade and give and learn and work with each other so that we can all be rich, in many ways, and so that we can build Zion together.

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