May I speak in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Recently I watched a programme on television about cyber-attacks and the attempts being made to stop them. The attacker finds a way into the computer system of an organisation and then locks out the victim from access to the system. Having done this, the attacker demands a ransom from the victim in exchange for unlocking the system. The ransom may run towards thousands of pounds, and the response is often to meet the demand rather than lose the business altogether. It is a depressing fact that, according to those who are trying to prevent such crime, the number of cyber-attacks is on the rise, and some businesses go under.
What are the factors that contribute to this grim state of affairs? It may be that the cost-of-living crisis has increased the number of attacks but one factor, surely, is greed.
In today’s Gospel reading there is ‘the parable of the rich fool’ in which Jesus makes clear that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. The rich fool is sure that if he has bigger barns with ample goods to store them in, he can ‘relax, eat, drink and be merry’. Jesus responds by calling him a fool. He asks who the goods will belong to and there is no value in storing up treasures for yourself if ‘you are not rich towards God’.
The readings that are part of today’s liturgical cycle also express the need to avoid greed. From the Old Testament comes the Book of Ecclesiastes where we learn that you may feel successful in gathering riches, but you cannot have anything apart from God. All the effort you make in acquiring riches is just vanity; ‘vanity of vanities! All is vanity’. In Psalm 49 we are advised not to trust in riches and in his letter to the Colossians St Paul asks them to set their minds on things above and put greed to death. When we do this, we can put on the new self, according to God’s image.
Why, then, does the cyber-criminal not take this counsel against greed on board which, even if the criminal is not a Christian, is sound advice? An answer may be found in the inability to sympathize with the suffering they are causing to the victim. It is all about them and what they hope to gain. This attitude is also found in the rich fool with his frequent, egotistical ‘I’ and ‘my’. This runs completely contrary to the call in the Bible to give alms to the needy as part of the Christian life.
This call has not always been adhered to by people across the centuries though there have always been those who reach out to the needy. In the early 1960s, in response to poverty in Latin America, what is known as ‘Liberation Theology’ was born with the aim to look at socio-economic conditions and focus on concern for the common good rather than the acquisition of private property. As Tom Wright reminds us in his book ‘Simply Christian’ there is a need for Christianity to campaign to reduce global debt and engage in fair trade. Unfortunately, to this day, the call remains unheeded by a measure of corruption in business affairs and by the cyber-criminals who continue increasingly to prey on honest businesspeople. The call, here, is a seed that has fallen on stony ground.
Is there any way that we can get the seed into fruit-bearing soil that will at least reduce the corruption and theft of others by technological means? One way forward might be to encourage more face-to-face dialogue in the world. The cyber-criminal relies on being able, via technology, to attack on remote, in a concealed position and at a distance. There are many good and helpful aspects to technology but the ability to access other people’s data with bad intent is not one of them. If you are on remote your victim is merely the owner of that which you wish to rob and not a human being whose welfare is of any concern.
When people are face to face there is a sense of community, and one feature of community is sharing. In today’s Gospel reading Jesus does not, I believe, reject the notion of a divided inheritance. He leaves that to be settled by the person in the crowd who has raised this question. What he warns against is the greed that may influence that process.
Another possible solution to getting the seed scattered in the right direction would be to try and comprehend what has led the perpetrator into such activity in the first place. It may be because they have been shortchanged in life and are therefore attracted to robbing others by wrongful means. Or if they are operating overseas, they may be prompted to rob by a hostility towards the country of the person on home soil. Again, face to face dialogue could help here in reducing hostility and working towards a world whereby there is a fairer distribution of wealth amongst all peoples.
These are possible ways forward and as Christians we are armed with the knowledge that God cannot be robbed of anything and that the greatest treasure awaits us in heaven.
AMEN