I recently heard a sermon on Luke 13 and the parable of the diminutive-but-soon-to-be-huge mustard seed. One of the upshots of Jesus telling us that the Kingdom of God is steadily growing is that we need to get a right understanding about what is really important and cultivate a ‘healthy disrespect for the rich and powerful’.
I assume that an unhealthy disrespect for the rich and powerful might be some sort of shallow critical attitude that licences feelings of prejudice and moral superiority. A healthy disrespect, meanwhile, recognises that although some people have the privilege of great wealth and power, it is not an enviable privilege. The mustard seed teaches that, eventually, having material riches and power will count for nothing if they are not invested in the growth of the Kingdom of God.
In praise of business
The Oscars, held a few weeks ago, were, as always, the consummate homily to riches and power. The business of the Oscars is quite unashamedly self-publicity and making more cash. Although the headlines were about people, Helen Mirren and Martin Scorcese in particular, the awards were really praising the successful business ventures and box office figures behind the films. Even the official Oscar website is packed with adverts, pushing the actual content to a thin column on the right hand side of the page and rudely interrupting photo galleries and video clips with car and moisturiser promotions.
