Economy and the “Inexhaustible Treasure”

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be" (Luke 12:32-35).

Where is our "treasure"?

We live in a society that worships money. 

Money has a place in life, as a medium of exchange and a symbol of the material value of our work (which is not the whole value of the personal self-giving action that constitutes human work). We earn money because our work, our personal effort to invest ourselves and participate in building up a human environment, manifests and communicates our transcendent human dignity and inestimable value as unique, free human persons, even if we perform the humblest of tasks. 

Workers cannot be bought, as if they were nothing more than material tools along with other “things” in the industrial production process. They are persons who contribute themselves, through their work, to a production project. For this they have a claim on the owners to be just (and further, to be equitable and charitable), They have a claim to be respected, treated with dignity, and given the means to take care of themselves and their families. Money enters in here, as a “medium of exchange” that is not just “transactional” but that represents — in part — the recognition of a common human bond, a sense of solidarity among all the persons involved in realizing the task that has been undertaken. The “wage” should be just, remembering that “justice” is a foundation for relationships with persons. A true “just wage” is not only materially adequate. It should be given as a sign of the owner’s appreciation of the persons with whom he or she is working together to realize a project. 

Some workers are more personally invested than others. “Equality,” therefore, is naturally proportional: the point is not the “everyone gets the exact same paymen” (which, ironically, would reduce human work to a mere function, a thing that is “bought”). The just wage instead, is one way the employer prioritizes the personal value of the worker and his or her family. It serves the workers’ right to live and flourish by making it possible for them to obtain the material necessities of this life and some of its comforts as well, and also to save and eventually invest in their own property, to acquire “ownership” — concrete stewardship over a stable “place” with its own resources, where the worker is free to develop his or her own creativity. Here we see (I hope) some elements of what a person-centered economy might look like.

Money also enables people to help one another, and also support institutions that enrich their hearts, minds, and souls in literally priceless ways (consider their fundamental connection to their churches, that must be supported in order to carry out their ministry). These institutions still require food, water, electricity, repairs, and the resources to take care of their own employees. Everyone has material needs and can benefit from some of the comforts that reinvigorate life. This is all legitimate, and makes money necessary in society. 

But a human culture is spoiled when material things are ripped from the place where they contribute to an integral human life, and are used to measure the value of human persons. We all need “things” to meet our own essential material needs, but something is wrong if those needs preoccupy us, cause us to worry, or loom over us pretending to be the limits of the meaning of human existence. "Humans do not live on bread alone." Food, possessions, success, wealth are not the meaning of life. Still, even though our life is a journey toward a transcendent fulfillment beyond what we can imagine, we are journeying as bodily persons living on this earth, and so we need sustenance for our pilgrimage. 

We need some comforts too, which can help us live as bodily persons with a greater energy and scope. We need to rest, relax sometimes, and to have spaces of tranquility, for the growth of our families, and for hospitality. These are modest comforts that provide space for a healthier, more expansive, more magnanimous life: a life worthy of human dignity. Nevertheless, it is a life that "moves" toward God's kingdom. There is a problem when — instead of seeking reasonable comforts and useful things for the sake of living with an attention to our humanity, searching for truth and goodness, living generously and sharing with our companions on this journey toward the Inexhaustible Treasure  — we find ourselves living for the sake of acquiring ever greater comforts and luxuries, and ever more sophisticated technological and other devices beyond the practical paths opened up here and now for ours or anyone else's human development. 

If we live to acquire stuff, and we make these (ultimately limited) "riches" the measure of what it means to live, we will be ultimately disappointed. No security system can protect our superfluous stuff from the reach of the most subtle of all thieves: time. What we once thought was so precious about the things we bought fades or becomes useless or, eventually, boring. Boredom is the “moth” that inevitably destroys finite things for persons who seek from them the infinite satisfaction for which our hearts were made. But the world of consumerism fills our ears with lies and distracts us with false promises. So we throw away our old things and buy new things; then, eventually, we throw them away too. We become our own thieves, stealing from ourselves, stealing away the possibilities for a great life in which every day is a sign that draws us toward eternal fulfillment, toward the Kingdom that God ardently longs to give to His children. But we live in distraction, grasping blindly at the edges of things, desperate and dissatisfied. We rely on our own strength and measure, and the experience of our own inadequacy makes us afraid. This is what a materialistic consumer economy looks like.

But Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” God loves us. He has created us to share forever in His Infinite Glory. He has made us for Himself, and He wants to give Himself to us. Let us place out hope in Him, and “make room” in our hearts for the Kingdom He is pleased to bestow upon us.