Eve and the OWS

The Occupy Wall Street protesters have created for themselves an interesting, though probably unintended, acronym—OWS—that gets right to the problem. They sense, rightly, that things in this world are not the way they should be. There is injustice and greed and exploitation. Life is full of pain and toil and futility. You really can go through four years of college and end up with just a lousy T-shirt—plus tens of thousands of dollars in student loans but no job. Ouch! (Or shall we say, Ow!?)

So the protesters see that the world is not the fair and happy place it is supposed to be. What they do not see, however, is the root cause of life’s “ows.” It’s not the fault of the so-called 1 percent. It’s the 100 percent. It’s you and me and them and every human being since Eve. The root cause is the very same covetous desire awakened in Eve when she looked at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and said to herself, “Look at this beautiful tree! What delicious fruit it has! And what a quick and easy way to get what God has!” (See Genesis 3:1–6.)

We too see something good, something someone else has, and we want it—now. And we would rather not work for it if we can get it for free. That is human nature ever since the fall. The root of the problem is not out there in someone else, as Alexandr Solzhenitsyn wrote.

If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? (quoted by Marvin Olasky here)

Not a one of us! Because “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV). In fact, our hearts are so sick, that we easily deceive ourselves and don’t even recognize our own hypocrisy. In Zucotti Park, among the OWS, in a mere two months, those who wanted a fair and equal society developed their own class distinctions, an “uptown” (with a library tent and lattes) and a “downtown” (with bongo drums). (See the video tour here.) Early on, the occupiers, who wanted free college educations and guaranteed incomes for themselves, became indignant when the homeless took their food and sleeping bags, their stuff, for free. You see, covetousness and greed resides not only in the hearts of Wall Street executives but also in the hearts of Wall Street occupiers.

Occupying Wall Street and demanding change from the 1 percent won’t solve the root problem. One hundred percent of humanity needs the same One Eve needed, the Savior God promised her (Genesis 3:15), Jesus Christ. He is the only one who truly changes hearts and so then nations. Of him, God the Father said:

           

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

                        my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

            I have put my Spirit upon him;

                        he will bring forth justice to the nations.

            He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

                        or make it heard in the street;

            a bruised reed he will not break,

                        and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

                        he will faithfully bring forth justice.

            He will not grow faint or be discouraged

                        till he has established justice in the earth;

                        and the coastlands wait for his law.

(Isaiah 42:1-4 ESV)

Amen. May God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Then and only then will everything be the way it is supposed to be.