Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor. (Psalm 112).
I read this Gospel as highlighting deceit, duplicity and essentially as a betrayal of trust. These failings are endemic in any human society where commerce is carried out and at any time in human history.
We are well aware now, more than ever, of the devastating effects of white-collar crime and its global proliferation. Every day we read about computer hacking and fraud.
What can we do? We can, of course, try to live with as much integrity as we can but, if we fall short of our ideals, Jesus gives us His suggestion.
Say that the guilt is Mine; give it to Me,
And I will take it away to be crucified.
It is all so very much simpler than you think:
Give me the greedy heart and the little creeping treasons,
Give me the proud heart and the blind, obstinate eyes;
Give me the shallow heart, and the vain lust, and the folly;
Give me the coward heart and the spiritless refusals;
Give me the confused self that you can do nothing with;
I can do something.
Dorothy L. Sayers, The Just Vengeance
