Introduction
How do we realise that something we’re doing is wrong? For Christians, the standard against which to measure ourselves is that set by Jesus, and it is his light that reveals the shadows and dark places in our lives.
Context
There has been widespread news coverage this week of the leaked ‘Panama papers’ – more than eleven million documents belonging to the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which allegedly show how its clients have been able to launder money, dodge sanctions and avoid paying tax on their earnings. In what has been dubbed history's biggest data leak, t he clients named include twelve former and current heads of state and government leaders, including dictators accused of looting their own countries, and more than sixty relatives and associates of heads of state and senior politicians.
Although tax avoidance is technically legal, unlike tax evasion, many of us would agree with Mr Cameron’s statement in January 2012 that such schemes are ‘morally wrong’.
Anders Dahlbeck, tax justice adviser at Action Aid, has said: ‘The poorest people are hit hardest by corporate tax avoidance: the IMF estimates that developing countries lose out on $200bn a year in avoided corporate tax’. And in the UK, it is reported that the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, has stated that ‘the avoidance of tax by wealthy firms and individuals is starving public services of vital funding’.
But if tax avoidance is immoral, how long must it take for those involved to realise that what they’re doing is wrong, and – more importantly – to change their ways? Do some of them just not care? Or do they live by a different moral code in which ‘what is right’ means ‘what I can get away with’?
This is certainly not the Christian view. For Christians, ‘what is right’ means, ultimately, ‘what Jesus would do’, and Jesus certainly never sought to amass wealth for himself at the expense of those less fortunate. On the contrary, he deliberately sought out those in need and drew their plight to the attention of the rich.
Saul, later Paul, was filled with hatred, and when the light of Christ burst into his life and he heard Jesus’ call, it left him blinded for three days. Peter, by contrast, had embraced the light eagerly, but often lost his way and needed to find it again, guided by the same call.
Reflection
Saul, later Paul, was filled with hatred, and when the light of Christ burst into his life he realised immediately, he knew, that he had been doing, was wrong. His three-day blindness surely reminds us of the three days from cross to resurrection. Paul fell to the ground, struck down (Acts 9.4), just as he had been striking down ‘disciples of the Lord’ (Acts 9.1) – though the compelling force was not a physical one, it was the light of the risen Christ. Then he is commanded to rise, to get up (Acts 1.6). He has been buried with him and is raised again (see Romans 6.4). He is reborn, remade, in the image of Christ. The transformation is complete – although he still has to work out and live out its consequences. Three days of blindness’ – an enforced retreat from normal day to day living – gave him time to adjust, time to reflect, time to begin to understand his new life.
On the banks of the Tiberian Sea, the disciples already live in that transformed world. They have experienced death and resurrection – that of their friend and Lord, but also, in a sense, their own. They (in John’s telling) have passed through the darkness of death and despair, and now the resurrection Spirit is breathed into them (see last week’s Gospel reading). Their old life is not completely gone, they return to their fishing boats; but something has changed, even if they do not yet quite know what it is. What follows gives two clues that may help us towards answers to the questions posed in the introduction above. In short, hospitality and community.
Jesus’ last time with his disciples was a meal – we call it the Last Supper. His first time with the disciples after the resurrection was in a similar (perhaps even the same?) room and context. And even if that wasn’t a meal, here they are, just a few hours later, invited to share breakfast. ‘He came and took bread and gave it to them’ (John 21.13). And as this hospitality comes to an end, Jesus speaks to Peter, with the repeated theme of ‘feed/tend my lambs/sheep’ (John 21.15-17), action based simply on the affirmation ‘Lord…you know that I love you’ (v.17). The building of a caring community, based on love, through the action of hospitality. This is how to build the kingdom. This is how to begin to counter the pressure of worldly living. And the mutual accountability that comes from living like this, helps us to address – or at least to begin to address – the question of what is right and wrong, letting the light of Christ shine in our lives.
Prayer
Almighty God, our Father,
let the light of you Son Jesus Christ shine in our lives.
Show us the places of shadow and darkness,
and give us grace and strength
to make the changes we need to make,
so that our lives reflect more fully
the life of our Risen Saviour.
Amen.
Questions
- Looking back over your life, what has helped you to realise that something you had done or were doing was wrong?
- What might help you to know if something you are doing now is wrong?
- Is it easier to see the faults of other people, rather than our own? If so, why is this?
Action
Invite a few people to share an example of someone they’ve encountered – or perhaps a work of art, a book, play or film – which has led them to make changes in the way they were living their lives (including, perhaps, how easy or difficult this was for them). Then invite everyone to reflect on how this might inspire or encourage them to seek changes in their own lives.
Young people
Ask the young people to reflect on who they see as influences on the way they live, and the choices they make about their behaviour. Invite them to discuss the positive – and possibly the negative – influences of the figures they identify.
Robert Beard is a freelance writer, English Language tutor, voice coach and Equality consultant, and half-time Pastoral Adviser with St Andrew's United Reformed Church, Sheffield.
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