Communism works on paper. I'm glad we all agree on that.It's a good system in theory, isnt' it? Yeah, yeah, I know we're all capitalists here, with our fancy computers and tablets, but communism works in theory. And no, I'm not talking about Marxism, please don't conflate the two. I'm talking about pure communism. It works in theory.
Now there's a reason that things work in theory and not in practice, and that breakdown is normally in the human element. That is, the reason communism doesn't work isn't because the system is bad per se, but because we are bad at implementing it. The reason Capitalism works is that we as human beings can be trusted to follow the profit motive - we will work harder for more reward. We will put more effort in if we expect more of a payoff for it. If there isn't a larger payday in store for us, then there's a real lack of possibility that we will be motivated by things being just a good idea. And so we will follow the profit motive, we will be motivated by the possibility that we might earn more, make more, by doing our jobs. And we expect that those who work hardest, who want it most, will earn the most, and rise to the top of the heap.
And capitalism, it's the basis for everything we do. We understand the world in a capitalistic sense, and because of that, we tend to understand God in a capitalistic sense as well. This is where works righteousness really comes from, our desire to implant capitalism onto every aspect of the universe. Works righteousness tells us that it is our works that make us righteous in the eyes of God, that he look at what we have done, the decisions we have made, and will be swayed by the magnitude of our actions. And although Lutheranism teaches against that, it's still something that sneaks into the minds of essentially each and every individual Christian at some point. And it usually goes like this: I work hard in the church, I give 10%, I observe the festivals of the church year, and I hardly ever gossip. I'll bet that God is delighted with me and what I do. I do it all for his glory, and thankfully, his glory ends up being my glory too, which is awfully convenient. God has richly blessed me, his servant, with grace, and love and honesty and humility.
Indeed. If we do things for God, he will do things for us. If we keep his commandments, he will bless us. If we do what he says, he will do nice things for us, and the harder we work, the more we will earn, right? Well, not really. This is a situation in which things don't work like that. It's not as though if you keep God's law more, you will be more blessed, or at least by God. Not really. Hold on, I'll explain.
Think for a moment about the 10 commandments. If you're Lutheran, you ought to know them already, but even if you're not, pretend that you are. And by pretending that you are, you will have the commandments in the right order (none of this graven images as commandment #2 rigamarole). Now, commandment number four is a pretty clear one, which tells us that we should 'honor your mother and your father.' That's good advice, kids of today. But the commandment doesn't end there, though we think it does. It continues, in Exodus 20:12
'Honor your father and your mother
that your days may be long in the land
that the Lord your God is giving you.'
The book of Ephesians talks about this. Ephesians tells us that this is the first commandment with a promise. Now, if you're a good Lutheran, you will be already asking yourself 'what does this mean?' Does this mean that if you keep this commandment, then God will richly bless you and make your days long on the earth? Not really .
For you see, in the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, Melancthon tells us that it isn't as though we are going to be blessed more by God if we're good, but rather that doing what God says to do carries blessings all on its own. If you honor your mother and father, it's not as though God is going to be nicer to you on account of your works, but rather that the commandments of God were given to us partially because they're the best way to run a life. If you plan on living long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, then the best way to do that is to obey his commandments. If we could all do that, then we wouldn't need other laws at all! We would be living fairly and equitably amongst each other constantly.
But we don't do that. We don't follow God's laws that well at all. And even when we do, we end up grumbling, saying that it isn't fair, all the things that we have to do and observe while other people seem to float along just fine paying none of it any mind at all. We grumble, and we grumble all the more when we realize that you can get into heaven without any works at all! All your attempts at keeping commandments, all your tithes and offerings, all your keeping to God's rules whenever you could, it didn't get you anything extra at all. Just like with the Gospel reading for today, those who had been labouring for the whole day naturally assumed that they'd get paid more if they had been working for longer. And come the end of the day, they were wrong. Everyone got the same wage. No matter how long they had worked, no matter how hard they had worked, whether right away at daybreak or at an hour before the end of the day, everyone got the same wage. And those who had been working all day were outraged, and complained. It was unfair that everyone received the same reward!
Yes, it was unfair. It's unfair that no matter how hard you work, you all go to the same heaven. It's unfair that those of us who work hard, tithe regularly, do what the Bible says when we remember, it's unfair that we go to the same heaven as deathbed converts. It's unfair because none of us deserve it. There is none righteous, not even one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Period, the end. So the unfairness comes into it when we think about how unfair it is that Christ should die for us, to break the bonds of sin, and lead us to heaven.
What we forget is that it isn't our works that justify us before God. Keeping the commandments doesn't make God bless you any more, but it does lead to a potentially longer, more peaceful life. And that's the motivation right there.
Communist principles tell us that it should be from each according to his ability, and to each according to his needs. And the Bible, well, it backs that up. You're not going to earn more heaven than you're currently getting by working hard. You're going to earn the same reward as always, which is none. The reward is given to you freely, no matter how much you worked. So why work?
Because the work is there to be done. Because your neighbor needs your good works. Because there are a great many things to accomplish, because you were given hands and feet and a brain to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for you to do. And it's when you fail at following through with these things, it's when you botch them up, that's when you need the ultimate communist - Jesus.
Communism doesn't work in practice because we need the profit motive to stay motivated. We require the profit motive dangled before us all the time, or we won't work. We won't do anything unless we're being paid well for it. But Jesus, he took it seriously: From him according to his ability. He could do what he wanted with what he had. He could make decisions to give us grace, to be generous and he was generous. To us according to our needs, because in the midst of our despair, we cried out to him, knowing that we were in bondage to sin and could not free ourselves. We needed his grace. We could not under any circumstances work our way out of the hole we'd gotten ourselves into.
And whenever we get tempted to think that there's someone out there who seems to have gotten the same grace as us, who seems to be on the same path to heaven as us, though they don't deserve it, we need to remember that none of us deserve it. And if working hard doesn't get you any extra reward, why work hard?
Maybe because the work is worth doing.
PJ.
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