INTRO
True, we've never before had a nearly-instantaneous, nearly-worldwide network connected to devices in our pockets alerting us to rising temperatures and the temperamental outbursts of tyrants or the spread of malicious insects and viruses.
And being constantly aware of all this can feel disorienting and surreal.
But even so, we're not convinced we should be so quick to call our times "totally unprecedented." Our ancestors weathered tyrants and plagues and renovated their political thought and activity when facing the consequences of previous human actions.
And for those of us within the Christian Tradition, we must always remember that our predecessors took on the challenge of reinterpreting all of reality in light of the singular life of Jesus of Nazareth.
What is not "unprecedented" is humans encountering the unprecedented. And in the midst of our own unique challenges, we unnecessarily feed the bad reactions that can come with fear and uncertainty if we believe we face our challenges alone.
So, in this series, we look at people and moments in the Tradition where those who came before us give us precedents for facing our epoch-shaping tests and tasks.
This time, we meet Basil of Caesarea, a man who sets for us an indelible precedent for how integrating our faith and works can help us navigate the pressures of empire, wealth, and civil religion.
STORY
Basil was born in 330 A.D., in Caesarea -- a city in what we now call Turkey. His family was Christian, and exceedingly prominent: his paternal grandfather was martyred for his faith, and his paternal grandmother, his father, his mother, and four of his nine siblings, would all become saints of the Church. In episode 6 of season 2, we covered two of Basil's siblings, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Macrina, who definitely shaped him, but who also considered Basil to be a central influence in their lives.
When Basil came of age, he studied in Constantinople and then Athens, cities that were the prominent intellectual centers of the day. At the age of 26 Basil completed his studies and returned to his hometown of Caesarea, where he opened a law practice and tutored others in rhetoric. However, he would soon undergo a profound shift in his thinking that meant he would not occupy this position beyond the age of 27. In one of his letters, Basil described the change this way:
"Much time had I spent in vanity, and had wasted nearly all my youth in vain labor which I underwent in acquiring the wisdom made foolish by God. Then once upon a time, like a man roused from a deep sleep, I turned my eyes to the marvelous light of the truth of the Gospel, and I perceived the uselessness of the 'wisdom of the princes of this world, who come to naught.' ... Then I read the Gospel, and I saw there that a great means of reaching perfection was the selling of one's goods, sharing them with the poor, giving up all care for this life, and the refusal to allow the soul to be turned by any sympathy to things of earth."
After this realization, Basil underwent baptism, the Christian sacrament that marks a decisive break from ones past and initiates a whole new life.
Notice here, a few things:
This man was the grandson of a martyr, and grew up in a family of soon-to-be-saints, yet by his own account, Basil did not really recognize the Gospel until he was around 27 years old.
It's also very interesting that it was Jesus' parable about the rich young man who was instructed to sell all that he had and give it to the poor, that awakened Basil and gave his life the new direction it would take.
And finally we need to point out a bit of background information. Around 20 years before Basil was born, the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and legalized it within the Roman Empire. And because of the cultural respectability this brought, during Basil's lifetime the faith grew in numbers at an unprecedented rate. Then, 1 year after Basil's death, an edict from the emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.
So, in talking about unprecedented challenges for the Church, there's a strong argument to be made that Christianity becoming the official religion of the Empire stands as one of the greatest challenges the church has ever faced, and that we continue even today to wrestle with the fallout of this decree.
Now, Basil was born right in the middle of Christianity's shift from persecuted underdog to religion of the empire. And, no doubt, the lived expression of the faith around him was beginning to look quite different from that of the early church described in the Scriptures. Here, the church started to see people who bought and sold things the same as they always had, treated their friends and superiors and those below them the same way they always had, thought about and cared for their bodies the same way they always had, only now they went to a Christian service on Sundays. This might be the first experiment with what we now call "cultural christianity."
It's also important to add that Basil's family was notable not only for its piety, but also for its wealth and social status. Basil's father was a renowned lawyer and speaker, and was a member of the Roman aristocracy. His family owned many properties - some just for living and others for hunting and recreation.
And remember how Basil studied at the Yales and Oxfords of the day? He didn't take out loans for this: his family paid cash. And when his father died while Basil was in school, Basil became the heir of a considerable sum of money.
It is this Basil - the upper class, inheritance child, from a family with an impressive Christian legacy, and who grew up immersed in the "Christian" Roman Empire, who is struck to the heart by Jesus' instruction to the rich young man to sell his possessions and give to the poor. And it is this command, that goes against the comforts of a Christianized culture, that would shape Basil's life and ministry going forward.
After his baptism, Basil began to spend his inheritance on behalf of the poor in the region. He soon departed to travel throughout Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, visiting many of the experimental monastic colonies that were developing there. These communities resembled the early Christian church in that they shared a common life of prayer and worship, and held all their goods in common.
After his travels, Basil returned to his family's estate where his mother and sister had founded a monastic community for women. Basil settled into a remote section of the property to live a life of prayer and solitude. Others soon joined him, and another monastic community developed.
After living there 6 years, Basil felt compelled to leave and re-engage the divisions and difficulties of the world. He took with him his considerable rhetorical and theological acumen, his experience of communal monastic life, and the fruits of his silence and prayer, so he was soon ordained as a priest and began parish ministry in his hometown of Caesarea.
During his ministry, Basil remained committed to the idea of a community of shared life and resources, but was was determined to extend this ideal beyond the monasteries and bring it to bear upon the larger society. Basil envisioned a who new social order no longer founded on competition and hoarding, but based upon simplicity and sharing.
And these ideals were put to the test only a few years after Basil's ordination, when in 369 a drought struck Caesarea and the surrounding areas, which was then followed by a severe famine.
During this crisis, Basil found his voice with regard to social issues. He penned four prominent homilies that have been preserved. They are titled: "To the Rich," "I Will Tear Down My Barns," "In Time of Famine and Drought," and "Against Those Who Lend at Interest."
We've linked a compilation of these homilies in our show notes, and we encourage you to read them in their entirety, but for now, here are some excerpts that will give you a sense of just how direct and insightful Basil's homilies were.
And as listen, remember Basil was from a wealthy, landholding family. So when he talks about the dangers of greed, he's speaking from experience. And when Basil talks about generously giving to those in need, he's implicating himself.
From "I Will Tear Down My Barns," "Who are the greedy? Those who are not satisfied with what suffices for their own needs. ... The bread you are holding back is for the hungry, the clothes you keep put away are for the naked, the shoes that are rotting away with disease are for those who have none, the silver you keep buried in the earth is for the needy. You are thus guilty of injustice towards as many as you might have aided, and did not."
In "To the Rich," Basil says: "Therefore, however much you exceed in wealth, so much so do you fall short in love: else long since you'd have taken care to be divorced from your money, if you had loved your neighbor. But now your money sticks to you closer than the limbs of your body, and he who would separate you from it grieves you more than someone who would cut off your vital parts."
And lastly, from "In Time of Famine and Drought." "Are you poor? You know someone who is even poorer. You have provisions for only ten days, but someone else has only enough for one day. As a good and generous person, redistribute your surplus to the needy. Do not shrink from giving the little that you have; do not prefer your own benefit to remedying the common distress. And if you have only one remaining loaf of bread, and someone comes knocking at your door, bring forth the one loaf from your store, hold it heavenward, and say this prayer, which is not only generous on our part, but also calls for the the Lord's pity: 'Lord, you see this one loaf, and you know the threat of starvation is imminent, but I place your commandment before my own well-being, and from the little I have I give to this famished brother. Give, then, in return to me your servant, since I am also in danger of starvation. I know your goodness, and am emboldened by your power. You do not delay your grace indefinitely, but distribute your gifts when you will.'"
As gifted a rhetor as he was, Basil didn't just talk. During this drought and famine, he sold and distributed much of what remained of his paternal inheritance to help provide for the starving people of Caesarea, and founded a philanthropic institution that would later come to be known as the Basiliad.
Here, the poor and diseased were able to receive food, shelter, and medical treatment free of charge. The Basiliad was in many ways the culmination of Basil's social vision, the fruit of his efforts to develop a more just and humane social order within the region.
In 370, Basil was elected bishop of Caesarea, and the Basiliad expanded. It eventually grew into a large complex of buildings that not only served as a distribution center for donated goods, but also provided shelter to the homeless and skilled medical services to the sick. Special care was given to lepers because of the social stigma they carried. Basil himself was known for his willingness to put himself at risk to care for the victims of leprosy.
In addition to being a philanthropic institution, the Basiliad was also an important spiritual center, a place for worship, prayer, and religious education.
Its presence is eloquent testimony to the fact that in Basil, words and action came together with saintly integrity. And by his testimony, Basil was also able to convince many other wealthy people to open their storehouses and share with the poor.
So, in the conversation that follows, we talk about the relationship between faith and works. We've all heard it quoted that we are justified by faith, not by works. But then why do the Scriptures instruct us to do them? How do faith and works hold together and how can Basil's life and teaching shed light on this and help us meet our own societal struggles as we too, find ways to live distinctively Christian lives in the midst of the cultural and civil religion of our day?
DISCUSSION [Auto-Generated Transcript]
Julius: Welcome back to “All Things.” To briefly state it. This is Julius and we'll once again. Hello in this series? Um, yeah, in this series we've been mining the Christian tradition for key stories that give us precedents for present day issues that appear to us unprecedented.
And now the story of Saint Basil that we just heard is full of precedents that strike up a lot of connections, for me at least, between, um, Constantinian Rome and our present day. Like there's the whole backdrop of what has become like a mainstream “cultural Christianity”— kind of like in the beginning of Christendom where the church has activity and presence has co-mingled with the empire or the seat of political power.
And I think that that's kind of a backdrop that we can at least be familiar with or understand, or it makes sense to us in our present day. And of course, there's this still pertinent issue of wealth disparity and income inequality that, um, that's kind of one of the undercurrents that goes on with St. Basil's story and what Christians are to do in response to that.
So coming out of this social/political/economic landscape, I feel like Basil offers us a real already offers a real robust and practical response to Jesus's call to sell our possessions, and to share our goods with the poor.
And in doing so he gives us a great example of the harmony that exists between faith and works. So what more can we say about the relationship between faith and works in light of Basil story?
Wilson: Um, well, I mean so much, but to keep it really punchy, I guess, um, there is a connection. Faith and works and what Basil, uh, his, his life and his gifts keep like putting in front of our face or into our ears in this case, I guess is there's no such thing as no fake. No works. You will have faith in something and you will do something, whether it's productive, helpful, or unproductive, unhelpful or flat out destructive.
And what Basil shows us is when, when I guess the magic, so to speak happens, or I guess better language would be salvation
Julius: Yeah.
Wilson: redemption. When that happens, then your faith in Christ leads to a life in Christ. And so your life begins to look more and more like Christ.
Julius: Yeah.
Wilson: Um, and I think where to, to keep it really focused on basil and the precedent he set for us and how his life shows us this, it has really challenged me, um, to open up and appreciate.
To a greater extent, the gifts of administration
Julius: Hm.
Wilson: administration, um, cause personal story, it had always just kinda. By the time I got into like working the quote-unquote adult world, all that stuff. Um, in my head, everybody had already been sorted into, well, you're a, you're a people person, or you're an accomplished things person.
These are, these are the two
Julius: Oh,
Wilson: And especially in the pastoral world, it's either. Well, are you really, are you a people person? Are you relational or are you administrative?
Julius: It's a hard line.
Wilson: It. Right. And, um, this plays out with, um, like and his younger brother Gregory. So we mentioned in the story, he's, he's from a pretty important family on many levels and it's, it's intriguing to see how Basil, but not just him, but how his whole family like undergoes a conversion.
Um, Experience like in personally and, and as a whole, but his younger brother and his sister were both very gifted and skilled in their own ways. And, uh, but as Basil, you know, was appointed as a Bishop, he later as part of some of the politics that were going on around in that area, he appointed his younger brother Gregory as a Bishop, also in that.
And he was constantly frustrated with Gregory because Gregory just couldn't like handle business. Gregory was very philosophical. He was incredibly smart. Probably. You know, if you, if you want to put it in competitive terms, more gifted intellectually, as far as the, the philosophy side, the thinking side, um, then his brother, but his brother was the one that founded.
Julius: Yeah. Oh yeah.
Wilson: Right. And, um, we're Gregory could give a lot of the thought about. Well, here's who Christ is and Basil can hold his own in this, but you know, we're a Gregory would just outrun him with thinking about, well, who's Jesus. And so who are we as persons? And that's one of the places Gregory made and an incredible gift, um, to, to all of Western civilization really is in the area of like anthropology.
If it has. Directly contributed to a lot of the things that we take for granted, um, and value like the dignity of all people, the way
Julius: Yeah.
Wilson: the way Gregory would talk about Christ and all of us being created in Christ. You know, this leads to, to viewing each individual person and this and that in a new way that elevates the dignity of all people.
Now I played that up, but then while Gregory might've been able to like outflank her outcome. Basil on this basil was the one that was like, okay, so what do we do with this? And this takes administrative skill. He was able to take this and put it into, into work and, um, in setting up his, um, in setting, setting up the bacilli ad.
So what I'm saying here is, uh, I at the beginning, in my work focused more on like, what would have been in this sphere of Gregory, you know, the thinking, being deep and then being relational with people, that kind of thing. Um, but then it became pretty clear to me after a few failures and heartaches that if you can't administrate, then you're not going to be able to sustain.
And you're going to end up talking in a way that makes explicitly or implicitly makes big promises to people about how we're going to love you and how we're going to treat you and how, you know, maybe the world sees you this way or has overlooked or, you know, whatever it is. I mean, as many people as you could be talking to, there are all sorts of different scenarios.
You know, maybe it's a little. You're lazy or while you did this, so this is punishment or, you know, whatever it is, however you've experienced the world, um, lacking in compassion when it comes or understanding when it comes to your story, you explicitly or implicitly make big promises about how we, as the people of God are going to do something differently.
But if you can't administrate, if you can't take that and put it into, into action.
Julius: Yeah.
Wilson: It's going to lead to more cynicism or disillusionment. You're going to break those promises and people are going to find it hard to believe the great, true things that you tell them about who they are in Christ. If we can't back that up with action.
Julius: Right. So talking about like the difference between. And I guess it's, it's not like, like I joked about that being a hard line before that, like maybe the work is trying to integrate those two things, the Gregory And the basil in us to be able to have the, yeah, I guess the engage intellectually, philosophically theologically to shape kind of a vision of how to do life, but then like the administrative gifts or the work side of it is like how to execute that, how to carry it out.
Practice.
Wilson: Right. And if we can come in electorally to think and believe it's true now, how do we get that truth into our bones? How do we get that truth into, um, into, uh, something concrete for people to, and, and for us that further instills, like, as we work this out, as we trust this and live it, we come to know that truth to an even greater extent.
So, uh, you know, talking about faith and works, we could say it's one thing to. Believe in our heads, God is trustworthy. God is generous. Um, but when it comes to like trustworthy, if, if we don't actually take some risks, we're not going to really know that if we don't step out and act on our faith, there's going to be a part of us that still really, really wonders that doesn't know that.
But to, to know that, to the full extent it takes works, it takes action to get that out there. Um, and then when it comes that same principle holds for other people. Right. We can, we can have all sorts of sermons. We can have all sorts of theological tracks or podcast or whatever it is. But if we don't have someone like basil or basil, that's the, it's always
Julius: Right.
Wilson: with dead languages and everything.
And it just, it kinda it's like Augustine, it depends on, uh, yeah. Uh, Gustin or Augustine. What, what group or school or accent? The person talking about comes from. And for other people that trust it. Um, if, if there's a, I mean, it's one thing. To be able to be honest and humble and say, look the ideal of the gospel.
Sure. We're never going to live this perfectly because that's really it. That takes a level of God working. Um, as God, as only God can to bring it to, to fullness. But if there's not something genuine in us, if there's not something tangible that flows out. That shows, in fact that we do trust the things that we're going, that we are saying about who Christ is and who people are in light of Christ.
If there's, if there's not something flowing out of us through our deeds that shows the world, we do believe this stuff for real. Um, then they're going to mistrust it to.
Julius: Yeah, I think, yeah, that's helpful. And I think that's why. I appreciate the language of like integration that that's such a key part of even what we're about here at Shamar is trying to provide like resources and avenues for people to.
experience integration in following Christ is that, Um, It feels like it's a helpful way to understand that works is not just like a separate kind of elective thing, but it's more of like the relationship between faith and works as like the concrete life that you live.
Like you said, there, you're going to live a life and you're going to act in the world and you're going to work a certain way. And it's a matter of like how, the way that we live is shaped by what we say We believe, which is the pertinent question that I think that one of the pertinent questions that we're trying to address is that.
From my experience. I see that a lot of the people that have become kind of disillusioned with the church, or at least like disappointed by the church comes from what you were talking about with being met with a lot of like grand promises of what the faith can offer and like doing a lot of good work in that the church has done.
What has maybe done good work in casting a, a good vision or like a vision for the good life, but that when there's a disconnect with. That is practiced or executed. That that's what leads to like, oh, like what is, what is the point of this, if it's not changing how you live? So the S the story that we're examining of Saint Faisal, um, certainly has echoes of things that we're experiencing now in, I guess, unprecedented levels like the, um, the connection between.
Church and empire and being in the seat of political power and influence. And then also, like I said earlier, like issues of wealth disparity, um, as we take into account, like where we are now, and as we look back to what this precedent can offer us, how. St the story of Saint Basil's example, offer us a robustly Christian way to put our faith into work specifically in the area of what we do with our material resources.
Wilson: Um, We mentioned this a little bit in the story. And so now maybe it's time to unpack it a bit more where, uh, if we, if we want some guidance in, in being faithful during times that seem unprecedented to us, let's look for precedence of when other, other Christians have, have like, faced something that to them would have been unprecedented and so around.
Be it. I'm I'm no economist, that's not my field. Um, I'm a, I'm a New Testament and Theology guy. That's that's my field. Um, but it's led me into asking a lot of questions, right. Because I just think the way I understand the gospel, it leads to, to all these things, right. It, it, it, if it's. Reconciling all things to God, then there's nothing out of bounds or, you know, neutral in this whole thing.
So what is, what does Christ have to say about it? So I'm no economist, but, um, in, in looking at the Greco-Roman world, the way I have, and then looking at some like, uh, You know, how, how politics has shifted, uh, and how politics and economics go hand in hand, how it shifted in the middle ages. Um, it's, it's really tough to make a one-to-one comparison because we just, we count wealth so differently, but it's, it's really not unprecedented for a few to have a.
And, and a lot to have little, um, it, it's really hard to make one to one comparisons because now we do it in, you know, in America, in dollars. And even now, what is a dollar, you know, as it goes more and more online, like it's not even really the piece of paper. Cause how many of us actually have cash in our wallets and use that,
Julius: Yeah.
Wilson: what is a dollar, that's a rabbit hole that I would like to go down, but not right now.
Julius: Sure.
Wilson: You know, but then it was, it was land. It was honor, you know, it was food production and who controls the food production, you know? And, and definitely if you want to talk about like Cesar and the few under seasons, I mean, they, they exploited and, but I think where we would want to go with this, if we want to bring the gospel to bear and not end up making a fool of ourselves by stepping out of our realm of expertise and making huge claims that we honestly just might not be, be justified or able to back up, what we can say is there.
I think my hunch is that this all matters, but there's something more fundamental. And more at the root of things in this. And this is why we keep talking about not just like wealth and giving, but from, from the deeper soil or trying to have our conversation, or I think about that really shaped by faith and the question of faith.
What, because along with whatever wealth disparity was happening back then, and, you know, at the beginning of it Basil was on the top of whatever that pyramid was.
Julius: Yeah.
Wilson: He and his family, you know, had much that most people in his time and place didn't have. Um, but what's also happening around this time that I don't want us to miss the connection is um. For the first time in the history of the Christian Church, it's becoming like culturally advantageous to be a Christian…
BREAK
And we can go in and scholars have, they've spent all sorts of ink and, um, trying to figure out how legit was Constantine in his conversion. But what you can't argue is whether his conversion was, was sincere or not. His conversion changed so much for the Christian world at that point, because. For most of the history before just being a Christian, just saying I placed my faith in Jesus as Lord was costly on, on all sorts of levels was costly.
It didn't when you favor with your neighbors, it didn't when you culture, the steam, you know, it. It didn't even if on like an introductory level, hi I'm will, will. Hi, I'm Julius. Well, Julius, I'm a Christian. It, even at that level, it didn't make your neighbor assume positive things like, oh, well you must tell the truth and you must be good to the people that work for you and that you work
Julius: Yeah.
Wilson: and you must be generous with your money.
It didn't, I mean, for, for so much. Their initial assumption was negative. Oh, you're anti-social oh, your rent. And once Constantine converts. And now, even before it becomes the official religion, just the influence of the emperor being a Christian. Now for the first time, it could work out to your benefit to just to be a Christian just on that level.
And so what you do start seeing, um, is. Who may not be willing to really risk anything for their faith to really not back it up with their actions. Now, for the first time you see people who think about their money, the same way they always have. And they think about the people they work for and that work under them the same way they always have.
And they think about their bodies the way they always have. They think about everything the way they always have. And so keep acting out of their thinking in the same way they always have, but they go to church on Sunday. And now just because the emperor is a Christian and I go to the same church. Now it starts to bring it.
There may not have been a genuine conversion for so many people, but now, right. It's it could work out in your favor. Now, all of this thing, what's going to show, if we've said there's no such thing as no faith, and there's no such thing as no work, what's one of the things that's going to show us even just what our faith is really in.
Cause this raises the question. So then what is their faith really? Is there faith in Jesus as a living presence? Do they trust Jesus's words? Like the sermon on.
Julius: Hm.
Wilson: And we're so much of the sermon on the Mount seems upside down to us. Blessed are those who mourn, like give to anyone who asks of you. Those things do not seem like a solid way to build a life, but he says at the end, if you hear these words and put it in practice, it's like building your house on a rock, not on sand the storms will come, but it will last, right.
Do they really trust Jesus? And do they trust his words? And his way of life or do they trust that once the emperor throws his hat and that becomes beneficial for everyone and I'm going to play that game. Um, and what we'll show is how you actually handle your stuff. What will show where your faith really is, is in your works.
And so what Basil offers us here is in this middle, right? Where he could have gone the other path of playing both, right? Looking like a Christian and continuing right. His status in his wealth. He instead gives sacrificially and, and starts to. Do you even like test in himself and set that example for the people around him, like, look, salvation is in Christ.
I've come to believe that. So in BA when basil says the path to salvation is not to put any, any trust in earthly things or any concern or give any concern to earthly things. That earthly things part can be really misunderstood, especially in our time. Um, and I've heard it misunderstood as in like, well, you know, uh, I've actually heard someone say, well, sure, I'd like to give to the poor, but I want, you know, we're saved by faith, not by works.
And so I don't want to start putting my trust in my works, which, which gets it, gets it backwards and misses what he's saying, what he's saying by earthly things is the stuff like what was, what was starting to really take off. In his time and place was, Hey, you throw in with the emperor that's earthly stuff.
That's what he's talking about. The things that like, um, th th th implicitly, the trust, the faith that you're you're putting in things is put in, uh, the emperor and worldly power and, and the way wealth and money and influence and provisions flow in that system. And what Basil is inviting us to is to concretely trust Christ here and now.
Right. When he says don't trust, earthly things. He doesn't mean stuff here. And now he means right here and right now to trust God, where, where you act in such a way with your things with your time, right. You act in such a way that God you're real and true, or this isn't going to work out well for me.
Julius: All right.
Wilson: Now to take it to our times. I think in applying this, it takes a little critical thinking. It takes some discernment. Um, and I think we could say that we used. I live in a time that still carried a whole lot of what was big was just starting in Basil’s time, where it for, and in some places it's still true, but it's becoming less and less true in our culture that when people hear that you are a Christian.
They assume good things.
Julius: right, right.
Wilson: It, we were, we're coming out of a time where it was very culturally advantageous to be a good church member. Right. And to, to let people know that you read the Bible regularly or whatever, whatever, you know, the marks were. And now that it's becoming less and less the case it's giving us the opportunity to, to look at.
Okay. So now when it's tough now, what do we do? Do we still
Julius: Hmm.
Wilson: Do we still care? Um, do we, do we still concretely act like Jesus is Lord, because that shows us whether or not we genuinely have faith that Jesus is Lord.
Julius: So I, I guess to bring it home and like, Flat out, ask, what does this, what do we do with this now? Like given that we're in these situations that like, where we say we've got precedents for in dealing with stuff like wealth disparity and like the church has a relationship to power. Um, how does this all come together?
In what St. Basil can offer us about the connection between faith and works. And I'll introduce this. I'll introduce another element into this that I think might hold this all together as the, the question. Character of the kind of people that we are and how that connects faith and works to be not disintegrated things, but that whole, that holds it all together.
The, the vision that we cast and that we believe in and how we, like you said to administrate that or execute it, and that, like, it feels like character holding those two things together is very. Maybe like the robustly Christian way So that we don't slip into just like, oh, but yeah, that there's one particular kind of system or like administrative system.
That is the solution.
Wilson: So I think Basil is such a key figure for exactly that because of all the things that come together in him, like his skills, his faith has works. Um, like it really, it offers us something. Man. it, it touches on so many of the huge issues. Right. So right now I even think it kind of corrects some, some of how we're trying to even convince people that there's a problem.
Right. So, um, so one of the, one of the things that we hear over and over and over again, to try to convince people, Hey, something needs to happen. Something needs to happen is just like how wide the gap is. the Uber wealthy. I mean, Hey look, people are going to space for fun now,
Julius: right.
Wilson: And this is, this is how it, how I hear it played out in some op-ed pieces and see it on memes, which, you know, not that memes are the best place to get your information and tackle the most challenging and difficult.
Julius: Sure.
Wilson: but you know, it's, it shows, it shows what's out there and the questions that are being asked, and I think Basil reframes even how we ask it. Right. Because is it so bad? That is it. So are, is the gap getting wider and wider and wider? W okay. Maybe, and again, like, I would say that's really a question for economists, because I don't know how to, to really in the economic sphere equate what wealth was in the fourth century.
In Kappa dosha to how dollars work now. I don't know that right. Was there a Jeff Bezos back then? You know, I mean, Caesar may be, I don't know how to do that, but where I think this points us to even greater, like an even more insightful question is how is sin and greed working in our world now? Because that has been happening.
Right. And if Christ comes to rescue us to, to set us free from sin and death, even now Basil someone that gives us, you know, again, not a perfect, but one of the best examples of how you, how you see that happen, right? Because he taught clearly about the dangers of where, like what holds your heart and.
Where your heart, if this is what holds your heart, it will lead you to act that, right. I mean, just like. Just like, if you say, I mean to put it, I hope this doesn't seem cheesy, but th but the old, like, Hey, dad is down there at the pool and the kids up at the high dive saying jump, you know, you can, you can think in your head, dad's trustworthy, but unless you jump, you don't know it.
And unless you jumped there still, there's a fear. There's a hang up. There's something else. There's, there's a longing for a certain sort of like, you know, safety or whatever that will keep you from really experiencing that. Basil shows us. Hey, you put it into action to, to really live this out. Um, so he modeled, Hey me first, right?
Meet me first. I've got all this stuff and it tempts my heart, but here's the gospel. And so here's how I, I tangibly, right. If I, if I intellectually give my heart and my mind to Christ, here's how I tangibly do it. I do what Christ did for the sick. I set this up and. Uses his gifts and his skills, right. To, to administrate to see that this can be done in, in a way that actually long-term benefits and helps.
So that it's not just words about Christ being trustworthy, but Christ's people let people experience that you give them an opportunity to actually jump right. Um, and, and you. To keep the metaphor going, his, his, uh, and his bacilli at is a place to say, jump right here, come and experience the goodness of Christ through Christ people, uh, and, and where it hits.
I think, I think now, We, we notice something is wrong, but we fractured the problems and we fractured the solutions. And so we end up looking, like you said, either just for a person, a good person, right. A people person that cares, and now you, you fix everything, but then you realize the limits of. And, and you, can't just, you've got to have a system, you've got to have administrative skills.
You've got to have a group of people and a system that can hold this together to sustain that. Right. So that it goes beyond just thoughts and prayers and well-wishes and abstract things that don't really change things. But on the other end, yeah, you've got to have the system.
Julius: Yeah,
Wilson: it's, it's tempting there to say, that's all we need is just the system.
But the question, you know, and, and this is where you get the back and forth, back and forth between different camps. Right? Well, capitalism has shown that yada, yada, yada, and it has failed these sorts of people in this and that way. And then you have somebody on the other side that just volleys back. Yeah.
But the USSR failed to communism failed because of this and that, yada yada. And they go back and forth and don't see like really what's what's at issue here is we don't trust you.
Julius: Yeah.
Wilson: and it's sure if you switch this system, there's still that question of, but if I don't trust you to. if it's still a greedy person or greedy people or greedy camps, you know, whatever it is, if it's still sinful, fallen, greedy people, whatever the system, there's some way that, because I don't trust you, you know, I can't, we can't even talk to each other, let alone buy into something together and contribute to something together.
Um, and we're, Basil hits us. It is the person that has the skill. The gifts to administrate, but also the character to administrate it well. And if you've got that, if you've got a good enough system and good character, there's at least an opportunity, right.
Julius: Hm.
Wilson: To, contribute to something and to give people a tangible enough experience of something that might help them also trust, not just us, but the Lord that we're learning to trust.
MEDITATION
Faith, works, empire, civil religion, and wealth, are huge topics that in the real world create a dizzyingly complex web of relationships. And our goal today is not to explain or fix all of this. This episode isn't going to change economic theory or shift the course of policy over the next five years.
Our current goal is simply to let St. Basil's precedent help Christians live like Jesus in the middle of the confusion and turmoil.
And in all our disorder and uncertainty, one way Basil can help us find a direction in which we can move confidently, and firm ground to plant our feet and push off of, is by calling us to place our faith in Jesus by practicing generosity.
With whatever you have.
Remember, in Basil's sermons, he speaks to everyone, and says for all of us, the path to salvation includes generosity.
So think, up to this point, what has guided the way you handle your resources?
Even if you've never joined a school for financial freedom, something has directed they way you handle your wealth. And a key first step toward greater fullness in Christ is just to name the things other than Christ that have direct our lives. So, what has influenced your saving and spending and giving?
Emotions? Momentary desires? Fear? Lust for control?
And what does this say about where you place your faith and trust?
And if you have followed a budgeting and spending system, that's probably good. You should be intentional and wise with your wealth. But, has that system itself become the thing you put your faith in?
Has the system itself become the thing you look to for provision and security?
That might seem like a difficult question, but it can be dealt with simply by looking at the role generosity plays in the system, and noticing what habits the system forms in you.
So, if you follow one, or are considering following one, ask, where does the system place generosity? It is integral to how the money is thought of and used? Or does the system place giving at the end, saying after you have a storehouse full of money, then you can be generous?
Now, maybe your debt to income ratio doesn't allow you to give a lot. But remember Basil's words from the sermon, In Times of Famine and Drought: from the little I have I give to this famished brother. Give, then, in return to me your servant, (Lord), since I am also in danger of starvation. I know your goodness, and am emboldened by your power. You do not delay your grace indefinitely, but distribute your gifts when you will.
This is challenging, but what St. Basil understands is that everything we do acts not just on outward things, there in the world, but also acts to shape and direct our faith. And what we do repeatedly becomes a habit, and what we do so well and so often the action can become unconscious, shapes who we are.
And so if we do not habituate generosity, when the times comes where we do have excess amounts of wealth, we will not be the types of people who are capable of being generous, even if we have more than we need.
Because of where we have, for so long, actively placed our faith. See, to habituate anything, we must, at the very beginning, put faith in something. To cut our spending and deal only in cash and track every dollar for a whole year, we have to trust the system and the results it promises. But, likewise, to give a piece of bread or to venmo money to someone in need, habitually, requires we trust the source of all true generosity.
So, what habits does following the system engrain in you?
And, whether your habits for dealing with your resources are developed out of religion, or chasing endlessly variable desires, or from legalistically following a financial system, where do your financial habits place your faith?
And finally, name where you have opportunity to become generous.
Some may only have a few dollars ...
And some of you have the ability to influence systems and cultures...
But whatever our levels of wealth and influence, what Basil's words and example show us is we all have the same opportunity to experience the fullness that comes with being like Jesus. Because, to act like Jesus, we must also put our faith in the Father like Jesus did.
And the places where we have concrete opportunity to habitually trust God are also the places we have opportunity to become the kinds of people who are capable of receiving and extending more of God's provision.