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Global Financial Justice

Ordinary Time (Second Section)Taxation, Public Revenue and the Common Good Week 36 · Day 6

Scripture References

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Old Testament

Jeremiah 22:13-16

¹³ “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbour’s service without wages, and doesn’t give him his hire;
¹⁴ who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house and spacious rooms,’ and cuts out windows for himself, with a cedar ceiling, and painted with red.
¹⁵ “Should you reign because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.
¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so then it was well. Wasn’t this to know me?” says the LORD.

New Testament

Romans 15:26-27

²⁶ For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor amongst the saints who are at Jerusalem.
²⁷ Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in material things.

Thought for the Day

Jeremiah denounces a king who builds his house by unrighteousness: workers are used and not paid, splendour is bought with stolen labour. Then the prophet recalls Josiah, who defended the cause of the poor and needy, and asks a piercing question: “Is not this what it means to know me?” To know God is not to become pious in speech while remaining ruthless in practice.

Global finance can feel too large to touch: trade, debt, tax havens, supply chains. Yet Jeremiah insists that unseen labour matters; and Paul insists that distant neighbours are still kin.

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In Romans, Paul speaks of churches in Macedonia and Achaia taking a collection for the poor in Jerusalem. It is not charity as display. It is a debt of love, a shared life across distance: “If the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.” Grace makes new obligations, and they are beautiful.

Lord, give justice across borders. Restrain systems that enrich the comfortable by grinding the poor. Give honesty to those who negotiate trade and tax, and courage to name exploitation. And teach your people a generosity that is not sentimental: a sharing that remembers we are one household, gathered by mercy.

Prayer Points

Respond

Defend workers whose labour is hidden or cheapened; grant fair pay, safe conditions, and legal protection.
Give wisdom to those shaping international finance, trade, and taxation; restrain greed and collusion.
Expose exploitative supply chains and corruption; strengthen those who pursue reform at personal cost.

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Provide for churches and communities facing poverty; make assistance humble, accountable, and sustaining.
Enlarge our love beyond borders, so that distant neighbours are not treated as disposable.

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