28th Feb 2010 - A Challenge to a King and the Call to Fairtrade

Colin Hull - St Mary's
Jeremiah 22 1-9, 13-17
Acts 4:32-37

Josiah and sons

In 640 BC Josiah came to the throne of Judah. He was only a young man and had a faithful commitment to God. He was stirred by a reading of “the book of the law” found by the priests in temple. It encouraged him to carry out some social and religious reforms, to get back to faithfulness to God’s covenant. In many ways Josiah tried to be the kind of king that we sang about in Psalm 72 to be a good and just ruler who looked after the poor of the land.

But this did not last. In 609 Josiah was killed in battle with the Egyptians. He was succeeded by one his sons Shallum (alias Jehoahaz). But Shallum only lasted 3 mths before Pharoah Necho II deposed him and placed another son of Josiah (Jehoiakim) on the throne. Jehoiakim had little independence and only ruled at Necho’s favour. None of Josiah’s sons were as devoted to God as he had been and the reforms he had tried to make came to an end. Things went socially backwards. At the same time there was an increasing threat from the Babylonian empire and 13 years later Jerusalem was conquered and the temple was destroyed. Judah ceased as an independent nation. The last few kings only reigned with Babylonian consent. All this is the background behind much of the prophecies of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah’s complaints

The passage that we read from Jeremiah is in that three month period when Shallum was king. He accuses the king and his courtiers of failing to rescue the one who has been robbed by a more powerful and rich person, doing violence to poor foreigners (probably refugees) and shedding innocent blood.

“Woe to the one who builds an unrighteous palace”

It does not make a person a king just because they live in a palace. The true king defends the cause of the poor and needy as Josiah did. The main message is change and be like your father or else be swept away. The palace will be in ruins. The fine cedar beams of the palace will be hacked to pieces.

As we can see Jeremiah confronted the king from the standpoint we have already found in the Psalm and other parts of the OT law and the prophets. The king should establish a just order that protects and cares for the poor and the vulnerable in society.

This prophetic theme is taken also into the NT. Jesus had warned of the trappings of great wealth. He advised the rich young man to go and sell his possessions and give to the poor. As we heard from the reading from Acts, the early church practiced a radical way of life in which the poorer members of the community were supported and helped by the richer ones. This radical sharing was sign of the kingdom of the Messiah, the kingdom of Christ, was well ordered sharing with the poor and needy.

The wrong economy

Let’s now jump to this century and the world of commerce today. Since the banking crisis there have been many questions asked about the financial rewards of those in banking system and certain forms of money speculation. Speculative investments that bring riches to a few but has brought ruin on many people around the world. There are questions about what constitutes a Just Reward for doing a job and earning money. Are the salaries of the highest paid really justified? How should profits be shared?

Bearing in mind what Jesus said about wealth and riches it’s quite amazing to me that Western Christian culture has come to accept and even promote a Free Market capitalism. It has allowed and even encouraged great divisions of wealth and a trading economy that keeps many in the developing world in poverty. It may be that the original Free Marketeers like Adam Smith operated in a Christian environment and assumed there would be a moral, spiritual and ethical dimension to what people would do with their money and tend towards a common good.In their view a Free Market was good for buyer and seller based upon moral considerations and freedom of the individual to choose the right things for themselves. If people operated in a good and free way the market economy would benefit everyone.

But often today the Global Free Market economy is divorced from those spiritual, ethical and moral foundations. Often it just seems to be matter of creating profits for some act the expense of others.  It may help the wellbeing of one group while being detrimental to others, particularly in the global economy. People in many countries that grow and make what we need get only a tiny fraction of the costs we pay at the supermarket check-out. If supermarkets are giving “special offers” what are they paying their suppliers? Who is losing out?

In the large financial institutions many forms of bidding and speculation on the stock market and currency markets can have devastating affects on people’s savings or pensions or on countries currency, imports and exports. When billions of pounds are wiped off of share prices the ordinary saver and small businesses suffer. Businesses may collapse and cause wide scale redundancies. Charities relying on investment income are currently struggling.
What might be proper Christian responses to a global market that is often divorced from the values of the kingdom of our Lord?

Fairtrade and a more ethical market

As long ago as the 1940’s some religious leaders started questioning the situation of the unjust prices paid to poor producers in the developing world. In 1968 a “Trade not Aid” campaign highlighted that if poor producers were paid a better price for their produce they would be able to send their children to school and be less indebted. A movement called “Worldshop” started in the Netherlands and later lead to several “Alternative Trade Organisations”. This all culminated in the various “Fairtrade” organisations being formed throughout Europe and N.America in the 1990’s and an internationally agreed Fairtrade labelling regime and certification. The impact of Fairtrade has been documented by several independent studies in different countries. It has been shown to reduce household debts and better social conditions for the families of producers. Children are able to go to school and the infant mortality rate goes down.

As I said at the start of the service, “Fairtrade Fortnight” started on 22nd Feb and goes on until 7th March.

We are being encouraged to swap more of the things we buy with “Fairtrade” alternatives and others that directly help poor people earn a fair and “living wage”.  We have a Fairtrade stall in church every Saturday and several local supermarkets also sell some Fairtrade goods if you are prepared to browse for the Fairtrade symbol on the packets.

This is one way in which Christians may continue to share their solidarity with our poorer brethren around the world. It is one way to promote a new kind of economics that is thoroughly Christian. But wider than Fairtrade is the challenge of our faith in Jesus to think about the impact all our lives have on those who have much less than we have. We are challenged to be more like those first disciples who shared their resources with their poorer brethren. How can we personally promote ways of life that are less selfishly materialistic and bring a greater level of ethical and moral challenges to the world around us? If we make investments for savings for our future what are our criteria? Do we look for those organisations and financial institutions that also have an ethical and moral dimension to where money is invested and for what it is used?  Since the 1970’s there has been a growing market in ethical investments if we take the time to look for them.

This is something I started doing several years ago and now every savings account I invest in for the long term I make sure it as an ethical, environmental or social justice connection. So I just want to share with you this challenge to have a greater ethical and spiritual dimension to our finances.

A-men