!""#$% '(() *+,-#.

/
Ezekiel S4:11-24
By }in S. Kim

!"#$ $&'()* +,$ -'&,."&/ ,0 1231345$ 62",-#*7 0"& 8909'& +#0" 4)-&: &;&*0 <&=)'& >);&'*)' ?,'@
A,B0)* ,*/ (&(<&'$ )= "#$ ,/(#*#$0',0#)*C 0"& ?&0')-)D#0,* E)9*.#DC ,*/ FGG =,#0"H<,$&/ D&,/&'$
,.')$$ ?#**&$)0, )* 8&<I JKC KGJK ,0 L')7'&$$#;& M,-0#$0 E"9'."C 20I L,9DI
We have a woiu fiom the Loiu touay. The people of }uuah hau been exileu to Babylon, foi
they hau been conqueieu by the most poweiful nation of the uay. In fact, the Babylonian
Empiie was the gieatest empiie in histoiy up to that time.
The inteiesting thing about human natuie is that even among the oppiesseu, people will
seek supiemacy, a pecking oiuei. We human beings have gieat capacity foi tenueiness anu
compassion, anu we'ie also the meanest things in the woilu, aien't we. Anu even when we
aie oppiesseu togethei, we will tiy to finu some auvantage ovei otheis, some way of
asseiting oui supeiioiity at the expense of otheis.
"As foi you, my flock, saith the Loiu, I shall juuge between sheep anu sheep, between iams
anu goats. Is it not enough foi you to feeu on the goou pastuie, but you must tieau uown
with youi feet the iest of youi pastuie." In othei woius, Bo you have to get what's youis
anu at the same time mess it up foi otheis.
I'u like to ieflect touay about who the sheep might be, the fat anu the lean, as we consiuei
togethei wheie we aie as a countiy.
Bow about this inteiesting statistic. Poveity is gieatei in the subuibs of Ameiica touay
than in oui innei cities. Poveity is at a SS% iate in the subuibs anu 28% in the innei city.
Anu the six cities wheie that uispaiity is gieatest touay aie Chicago, Clevelanu, Betioit,
Bouston, 0klahoma City, anu Ninneapolis.
Between the late 19Sus anu the miu 7us, the 0S poveity iate uioppeu fiom 22% to 11%.
The poveity iate uioppeu in half(!) mostly uue to the ueciease in the uestitute elueily,
meaning pooi olu people, because of the inciease in benefits to Neuicaie, Neuicaiu anu
Social Secuiity.
Euucation is one of the piimaiy uiiveis of socio-economic upwaiu mobility. We hau a vast
welfaie piogiam aftei Woilu Wai II in highei euucation calleu the uI Bill. It alloweu
millions of foimei soluieis to basically get a fiee euucation, to become the fiist peison in
theii family to ieceive highei euucation, setting them on an upwaiuly mobile couise. Nany
of us heie aie beneficiaiies of that paiticulai welfaie piogiam. But, inteiestingly, the uI Bill
was seveiely iestiicteu foi non-white people. So it was basically goveinment-funueu
welfaie foi white people, as so many goveinment piogiams aie. Evei heaiu of 4u acies
anu a mule. What was that but a massive welfaie piogiam foi white people.
0ui public schools aie piimaiily funueu by piopeity taxes. No wonuei some public schools
look like college campuses anu otheis look like wai zones! Bow uo we funu P0BLIC
schools this way when oui society is still maiieu by iacism, white flight, ieulining anu
iacial piofiling. Piopeity value is still highly coiielateu with iace, anu so this foim of
taxation is paiticulaily unjust.
"
Economists tell us that a piimaiy uiivei of poveity in a nation is the extieme accumulation
of wealth by a ielative few. When 1% of Ameiicans own 4u% of assets, you know we live in
a new uilueu Age. We have a gieatei uispaiity in wealth now than since 1929, when the
stock maiket ciash leu to the uieat Bepiession.
In 19SS, foui yeais aftei the ciash, the ulass-Steagall Act was passeu to contiol speculation
anu to sepaiate tiauitional banking fiom investment banking. The sepaiation of banking
piactice meant that tiauitional banks hanuleu home moitgages, cai loans, business loans
anu peisonal loans, while investment banks iaiseu laige amounts of capital in a cential
tiauing place like Wall Stieet to finance big business. But we also know that investment
banking means taking on high levels of leveiageu iisk, manipulating the value of cuiiency,
anu speculating on stocks anu bonus that uo nothing to actually help builu an economy.
Wall Stieet is just legalizeu gambling foi millionaiies.
In 1999, the uiaham-Leech-Bliley Act uismantleu ulass-Steagall, anu that alloweu big banks
to buy each othei up. These "too-big-to-fail" banks on Wall Stieet coulu now take the
moitgages, cai loans anu business loans maue fiom theii main stieet bianch anu then
iepackage anu iesell these loans in piecemeal fashion enulessly aiounu the globe. In 2uu7,
when one of these "too-big-to-fail" banks actually +,$ alloweu to fail, we hau a massive
global economic ciisis. Aftei that, none of these behemoth institutions weie alloweu to fail,
anu so the goveinment spent $7uu billion to bail out Wall Stieet - a ciisis piecipitateu by a
foolish Republican Congiess anu an equally foolish Bemociatic White Bouse that signeu it
into law.
Economists iecently calculateu that $Suu billion woulu iestoie all unueiwatei moitgages
to a sustainable level. So heie's the scoie: $7uu billion foi Wall Stieet, $u foi homeowneis.
This is what we've come to. Let's tiy to get a hanule on what $7uu billion is woith.
In the 198us, the 0S goveinment finally uiu the iight thing by paying iepaiations to the
suivivois of }apanese inteinment camps uuiing WWII. A meie $2u,uuu isn't much, but it
was a conciete expiession of iemoise by the nation - a bill passeu by a Bemociatic
Congiess anu signeu by Ronalu Reagan. If we pioviueu $2u,uuu to eveiy Afiican Ameiican
man, woman anu chilu as iepaiations foi chattel slaveiy anu }im Ciow segiegation touay,
that woulu amount to $7uu billion. I unueistanu that we hau to pievent the global
economic system fiom ciashing, but what aie we willing to pay to auuiess oui moial
conscience as a nation.
So I am asking, What inuiviuual initiative. What piivate enteipiise. I believe that the
piivate initiative of inuiviuuals is a gieat uiivei of economic piouuctivity. Neveitheless,
goveinment policies uo iein in some of the excesses of human bullying, of the human
penchant foi enuless gieeu. A goveinment's job isn't just to ieuistiibute iesouices; it is
also to cieate equitable iules anu iegulations.
Can you imagine Ameiican football, a violent spoit that I love ueaily - can you imagine
football without iules. This spoit has moie officials than almost any othei spoit I know.
Theie aie $) (,*B iefeiees anu juuges, anu even some above in the booth uoing instant
ieplays. That is because the spoit is so violent anu complex.
When we have an economy as laige as the Ameiican economy, you neeu iobust iules anu
iegulations, lots of officials obseiving the thing, making suie that people aie not plunueiing
#
one anothei. Theie is something giavely wiong with oui countiy when the bottom 1u% of
the woikeis pay a Su.S% effective tax iate, anu the top 1u% pay a 1u.4% tax iate, anu the
top 1%, those who make ovei $472,uuu a yeai, pay the lowest effective tax iate of all -
9.7%, because of all the tax loopholes custom-uesigneu to favoi the iich.
Is this fiee enteipiise. Is this equal oppoitunity. I'm just wonueiing if uou has something
to say about this.
I believe in fiee enteipiise. I also believe that Ameiican football shoulu be playeu by iules
anu iegulations, anu that when human beings come into contact with one anothei, that
faiiness shoulu govein us all.
What is being contesteu touay is the vision of commonwealth. Theie aie some in this
countiy who aie beholuen to the logic of empiie, a way of thinking that says that the
aveiage peison is meiely a commouity, that says that no amount of unfaiiness is too much
as long as these commouifieu bouies piouuce moie biicks with less stiaw, all in the name
of piocuiing shelf space at Walmait. Theie aie some who think that they can keep calling
oui iiggeu system "equal oppoitunity," anu that the people will keep consuming empty
ihetoiic as tiuth. Theie aie some who still use the ugly anu false categoiies of iace to
uiviue anu conquei.
Some of us have a uiffeient stoiy to tell, a stoiy tolu by a humble man fiom Nazaieth. }esus
iepiesenteu the logicLogos of uou's kinguom, because he was uou's Woiu maue flesh.
}esus talkeu of iepaiiing the bieach between opposing people gioups, anu the oneness of
humanity because we aie all maue in uou's image. When empiie tiieu to uiviue by iace,
}esus sought to unite by faith. People of faith thioughout this gieat lanu aie coming
togethei to stanu up foi a faii, just, sustainable commonwealth. We uon't believe the
ancient impeiial lie, the logic of scaicity that leaus people to be ieuuceu to uog eat uog. We
believe in shaieu piospeiity, in a tiue commonwealth wheie theie is enough health anu
well being foi all.
The chuich must fiist of all iepent of oui silent complicity in such a system. I make this
humble confession on behalf of the people of uou, but we have no pioblem with the poweis
anu piincipalities oveiheaiing this confession eithei.
We believe that uou has a woiu foi us touay:
"Is it not enough foi you to feeu on the goou pastuie." Is it not enough foi you to be
an aveiage millionaiie oi a billionaiie. "But you must tieau uown with youi feet the
iest of youi pastuie. When you uiink of cleai watei, must you foul the iest with
youi feet. Anu must my sheep eat what you have tiouuen with youi feet anu uiink
what you have fouleu with youi feet. Theiefoie, thus says the Loiu uou to them: I
myself will juuge between the fat sheep anu the lean sheep. Because you pusheu
with flank anu shouluei anu butteu at all the weak animals with youi hoins until
you scatteieu them fai anu wiue. I will save my flock, anu they will be no longei
iavageu. I will juuge between sheep anu sheep."
I want to point out that this is goou news not only to the pooi. This is goou news to the iich
too. The Loiu piomises thiough the piophet Ezekiel, "I will set up ovei them one shepheiu,
my seivant Baviu, anu he shall feeu them |pooi anu iich alikej. Be shall feeu them anu be
$
theii shepheiu. I, the Loiu, will be theii uou, anu Baviu shall be piince among them. I the
Loiu have spoken."
This is goou news foi those in Washington anu Wall Stieet anu Nain Stieet. Theie will be
one shepheiu ovei ,DD, the iich anu the pooi, the haves anu the have-nots, the light-skinneu
anu the uaik-skinneu, the new immigiants anu the settleu immigiants. 011 (2 #, 3411 5/
2/) 6#,-4"/. Anu foi some it will go uown smoothly, anu foi otheis, we will be choking on it.
But all of us aie going to be bettei off by feeuing on uou's justice.
Yes, we have one piesiuent aftei anothei. We vote in one Congiess anu then we vote out
anothei. But theie is a tiue shepheiu, a tiue seivant of the Loiu, coming. Anu his name is
}esus. Anu this }esus came in the miust of an extiemely oppiessive, uneven, unfaii time
calleu the Roman Empiie 2uuu yeais ago. Anu this }esus is coming again.
In the miust of these tiying times, we neeu to make suie to live anu move anu have oui
being as if uou weie in chaige. It's not about being in uenial about oui unueiwatei
moitgages anu about oui outiageous stuuent uebt. Speaking of which, we now have young
people giauuating fiom public univeisities with an aveiage of $SS,uuu in uebt, anu fiom
M#<D& colleges with $4u,uuu of uebt majoiing in missionaiy woik anu Bible. When a college
uegiee touay means that oui young people must face 2u+ yeais of inuentuieu seivituue,
something is wiong with oui system.
We tiust that uou is making a home foi us alieauy in heaven, anu that pait of uou's plan is
cieating Chiistian communities calleu the chuich, wheie we stake a claim on a piece of the
kinguom heie on eaith, piaise uou. In piepaiation, we will occupy a poition of uou's goou
pastuie "&'&. Anu that is what the chuich is foi. We have to confiuently occupy this space,
anu then let this space expanu until people in Wall Stieet anu Washington anu St. Paul aie
ashameu by the shabbiness of what they have built. uou offeis us tiue pastuie, goou
pastuie, a just anu equitable pastuie. We have to live in that pastuie confiuently *)+, that
we might meet oui Nakei one uay anu heai, "Ny goou anu faithful seivant, well uone."
We aie #* this woilu, but we aie not )= this woilu. We must give to Caesai what is Caesai's,
just as }esus commanueu. But we uon't neeu to make Caesai oui mastei. As Bi. King once
saiu, No one can iiue oui back if we stanu up stiaight! 0ui heait anu soul, oui entiie
uisposition, postuie, anu stance neeus to benu towaiu the kinguom, anu even in this
moment, occupy uou's goou pastuie, as this passage in Ezekiel piomises.
We can't uo it alone. That is why uou gives us the beloveu community heie on eaith, to be
a witness togethei that a uiffeient pastuie is possible. Nay oui Almighty uou help us to live
into this piomise of a new pastuie, anu thiough it, a ieneweu commonwealth. Amen.