The Gardening Business Goes Bad
Once upon a time there was a gardening business. Actually, it was more like a farm or a ranch, with plenty of plants and vegetation of all kinds, and lots of animals as well. The owner put a couple in charge of not just protecting it but creatively developing it. The owner arranged for an abundant water supply and also spent time orienting them to the right way to do things—the way of excellence and ethics, we could say. He emphasized to them that they were free to do whatever was good, useful, or beautiful in the ways to which he had oriented them. He also pointed out a potentially poisonous tree. They should take his word for it and avoid it. He left the business in their charge but was available for guidance if they needed or wanted it. The communication channels were open.
The work began. They gave names to the livestock and animals to get organized. They started thinking about having and raising kids (which the owner had encouraged them to do) as well as the immense possibilities for cultivating and developing the garden/farm. But one day a stranger came by and asked the couple about their garden/farm and why they avoided the allegedly poisonous tree. “It’s not poisonous,” spat out the stranger. “You should take charge of your farm and act like the true, working owners you are! You are not going to die. The owner is wrong.”
You know this story. The couple did what the stranger urged. They harvested the poisonous tree and ate its fruit. The stranger disappeared. The couple realized they had done something wrong. They tried to hide when the real owner paid them a visit. When the owner asked them what was going on, the couple pointed fingers, blaming each other, blaming the stranger, even blaming the owner, if you can believe it. The owner kicked them off the farm and predicted that their future work would not be so idyllic as this first place had been. Nevertheless, the owner would assist them in their future lives and work outside of the original garden/farm.
This story is not just about “once upon a time.” It is “throughout time.” It is the Jewish and Christian story of how good things and good work go bad. “The way it’s supposed to be” is that we human beings work together in partnership and creative freedom to care for the earth and each other, protecting and developing products and services that are serve human needs and purposes and are beautiful (“pleasing to the eye”). We honor our Creator by doing the kind of work he did. We exercise our freedom and entrepreneurial energy in freedom—but within temporal and spatial boundaries (i.e., there is a time we could work but should not (sabbath) and there is a place we could work but should not (the tree). Our ethics and values seek the approval—“this is good!”—of the God of all people and all creation.
The “fall” is when we decide to act as our own ethical authority, when we seize the role of pronouncing judgments on good and evil. Before you know it “everyone does what is right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Instead of seeking God’s guidance on what would be right for everyone, we choose what’s right for me, or for my tribe. And just like in the original story, what follows is hiding and then accusation. And then violence. Wherever there is hiding and blaming we are in trouble. Enron, Andersen, AIG, and so many other organizations abandoned a commitment to doing what was right for all their stakeholders and made up their own rules justifying their self-serving behavior.
Christians in the workplace must stand for a justice and righteousness that is committed to what is right in the eyes of the God who created and who loves every man, woman, and child.
—David W. Gill www.davidwgill.org