Equality or Equity
Pastor Roberta Pierce shared a cartoon in a Facebook post back in March that really caught my attention. The cartoon is actually a pair of drawings showing three children trying to watch a baseball game from just beyond the outfield picket fence.
In the first image, each child is standing on a wooden box. The boxes are all the same size. The tallest child has a great view of the game and so does the average-sized child. But even though the smallest child is standing on their box, they still cannot see over the fence. The caption over this image is “Equality.”
In the second image, the tallest child is standing on the ground and the average-sized child is standing on one box. Both children still have a nice view of the game. However, this time the smallest child is standing on a stack of two boxes and finally enjoying a view of the game. The caption over this image is “Equity.”
Sometimes a simple picture can convey the meaning of an often contentious topic so succinctly!
In this weekend’s second scripture lesson (2 Corinthians 8:7-15), Paul is trying to convey the same understanding using words:
“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality.”
Now Paul wasn’t writing this in American English; nor do I think the translator was trying to evoke any other meaning here than “balance”, but in light of the baseball drawing it may have been more accurate to use the word “equity” instead.
Perhaps this would help us better understand Jesus’ advice to the rich man: “Sell everything you have and follow me.” Jesus doesn’t want us to empty ourselves of all that we have; after all these were gifts to us from God. We need some of these gifts to strengthen and support us while we serve. I think Paul, like Jesus, is simply asking us to free ourselves from the burdens of our independence, the “self-security” we carry around “just in case”. By acting the way we do, we deny others from meeting their needs and we deprive others from living out the gospel supporting us in our time of need.
In Christ,
David Krueger