WHAT IS INJUSTICE?

Listen to this, you who trample on the needy
and try to suppress the poor of the country.
You who say, ‘When will New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn,
and Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat?
Then by lowering the bushel, raising the shekel,
by swindling and tampering with the scales,
we can buy up the poor for money,
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and get a price even for the sweepings of the wheat.’
The Lord swears it by the pride of Jacob,
“Never will I forget a sing thing you have done” 
(Amos 8:4-7).

I think we can safely conclude in answering the title question that the word ‘injustice’ implies taking from others what is rightfully theirs. The sin of injustice is made worse when this is done by cheating others and knowing people will be left in poverty. In the text above we can see how greed takes over those who live with this mentality: even the sweeping of the wheat can be sold – no thought of giving even the scraps to the poor.

If you read the text carefully you will find that in business nothing changes much. We might even be able say nothing changes much when it comes to religion. It is religious people Amos is directing his words to. Note how they are observing the Sabbath. In other words, their liturgy and ritual observance has become disconnected from their morality and way of living. I dare say such mentality is found even in the Christian era!

Scripture does not judge those who are rich. It does however warn us not to put our faith in riches and not to be afraid of giving our wealth away. And when we gain wealth at the expense of a dignified life for others, and live even a mildly comfortable life without a thought for the homeless, the starving, or those who for one reason or another are simply poor, then scripture is very judgmental and harsh in its condemnation. It seems that finding a way of supporting those in need, is the antidote for a heart obsesses with acquiring more. 

A person who is spiritually free is one whose heart is not attached to their wealth. They are scrupulously honest in business and constantly checking and discerning what they should do with the abundance entrusted to them. 

A few lines from the poem ‘Leave Me, O Love’ makes for a healthy prayer:

Leave me, O Love which reachest but to dust;
And thou my mind, aspire to higher things;
Grow rich in that which never taketh rust,
Whatever fades but fading pleasure brings.

– Sir Philip Sydney. 

DISCUSSION: From the Scripture text above, where in business today would you find it relevant?