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The Gospel and Globalization

“If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served: he came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.” — Mark 10:42-45

Global faith

We do affirm the faith that the Gospel is the source of our hope in this present age of globalization.  It is our reason for being; we live our lives, because of the Gospel. Now, it is interesting to note that like globalization, our Christian faith is also a global faith.  It is a universal faith.  The Christian Gospel is a universal Gospel. It is the Good News meant for everyone.   And like globalization, it also transcends all kinds of racial or national boundaries.

Although the Gospel and globalization are universal in nature, they are, however, diametrically opposed to each other in terms of the message they proclaim and the values they promote. There are two aspects of our life where we could see the glaring differences between these two.  And these are in the areas of politics and economics.

Perhaps, many of us church people are allergic to politics and economics.  But then, whether we like it or not, we cannot really do away with politics and economics, simply because they are very much a part of our life. As a matter of fact, great decisions affecting the lives of people all over the world, including church people like us, are done not in the area of religion but in the areas of politics and economics. 

Indeed, politics and economics are very important areas of our lives, so important that they should not be left alone to the politicians and the economists. Our politics and economics are part of God’s concern. Therefore, the Gospel and the demands of the Kingdom of God must judge what kind of politics and economics we are practicing.

When we talk of politics, we are simply talking about how we make use of the power God has given us, in the same manner that when we talk of economics, we are also simply talking about how we make use of the wealth or material resources God has bestowed on us.  Hence, the primary theological question of politics and economics is a question of stewardship.  How responsible are we in using the gifts of power and material resources that God has given us? And we’ll find out that the Gospel has a different way of looking at politics and economics, very different from globalization.

Politics of servanthood vs. politics of dominance

First of all, the Gospel is opposed to globalization in the area of politics.  The politics of globalization is a politics of dominance, while the politics of the Gospel is a politics of servanthood.

To help us understand the differences between these two kinds of politics, let us take the incident recorded in Mark 10:35-45.

We must take note that globalization is not really a new issue; it has been there already, even during the time of Jesus. Only the players are different. Whereas before you had the Roman Empire; now you have the G 7 or G 8; these are the richest nations in the world today led by the United States.

Apparently, the disciples of Jesus, particularly James and John, were also influenced by the values of globalization as experienced in the Roman Empire. And so they came to Jesus one day and asked him to make them sit on his right and on his left, respectively, when he would establish his Kingdom.

Now, Jesus took this occasion to explain to all his disciples the difference between the politics of the Gospel and the politics of globalization. And so, he said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority. This, however, is not the way it is among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest; and if one you wants to be first, you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served: he came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.” (vs. 42-45).

Now, going back to the question of stewardship: how do we use the power in our hands that God has bestowed on us? Are we going to use it to dominate other people or other nations? Or, are we going to use it to serve others? The politics of globalization is a politics of domination, because it uses power to dominate other people and to lord it over them, but the politics of the Gospel is a politics of servanthood, because it uses power to serve and redeem many people.

The term “many people” is translated from the Greek word “ochlos”, which could also mean the poor and ordinary people, the crowd who are like “sheep without a shepherd”, these are the victims of globalization, who are so numerous in number. These are the objects of the Gospel’s redeeming power, then and now.

Economics of greed vs. economics of sharing

Moreover, the Gospel is also opposed to globalization in the area of economics. The economics of globalization is the economics of greed, but the economics of the Gospel is the economics of sharing.

The economics of greed is based on the philosophy that life is consisted in what we have or what we own. It is like the Rich Fool in Luke 12:16-20. According to the story, this person had vast tracts of land that yielded good crops. And thus, he began to say to himself, “I don’t have a place to keep all my crops, what can I do. This is what I will do,” he told himself; “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I will store the grain and all other goods. Then, I will say to myself, Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself”. But God said to him, “You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself?”

This Rich Man is considered foolish, because he thought that life is consisted of the riches he has acquired, only to find out that ultimately when he dies all the material wealth he has greedily accumulated will be left behind.  And so, the Gospel declares that life is consisted not of what we own or have greedily accumulated, but of what we share; not of what we get but of what we give.

This could be illustrated more in the story of the Rich Young Ruler recorded in Mark 10:17-27, who came to Jesus one day and asked him what he must do to receive eternal life. He was so proud to tell Jesus that he had been obeying the commandments since he was young. But Jesus said to him with love, “You need only one thing. Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.”  When the Rich Young Ruler heard this, gloom spread over his face, and he left away sad, because he was very rich. 

Well, there is another version of this same story in the Gospel According to Hebrews, which was not canonized, but nevertheless it continues the story saying: “But the Rich Man began to scratch his head, and he was not happy. And the Lord said to him: ‘How can you say, I have kept the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law: Love your neighbor as you love yourself, and many of your brothers, sons of Abraham, are clad in filthy clothes, dying of hunger, and your house is full of many good things, and nothing at all goes out for them.”

Apparently, the Rich Young Ruler had been deeply influenced by the values and economics of globalization, the economics of greedily accumulating more and more wealth for oneself.  And therefore, it was very difficult for him to share his wealth and to embrace the reality of God’s Kingdom.

The call of the hour, therefore, is for us to struggle for the transformation of globalization’s politics of dominance and economics of greed into the Gospel’s politics of servanthood and economics of sharing. #

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