What Are Our Obligations to the Poor? Part 2
April 20, 2010
Dear Friends,
Jesus told his disciples "The poor you will always have with you." (Matt. 26:11 NIV) From this simple phrase we can glean a lot.
First, Jesus tells us that human beings will never completely solve the problem of poverty this side of the Kingdom of God on earth. We will "always" have poor people. There is wisdom imbedded in this understanding. We can't fix it all. This is not to say that we shouldn't try, but don't get frustrated when we can only change the lives of a few. It makes a difference for those few people we can help. Even Jesus with all of his compassion, wisdom and power didn't eliminate poverty in his small sliver of the globe during his earthly ministry. He did help many, many poor people, but he also left much to be accomplished by us and for when he returns. We should find comfort in the knowledge that we only need to help when and where we can, not solve the whole world's problems. When we consider the massiveness of the world's problems, it is simply overwhelming. We can and should help where we are able to do so.
Second, the context of this comment by Jesus is where the woman comes to anoint him with costly oil. Jesus is telling us that poverty elimination does not take preeminence over all facets of discipleship. Discipleship is many things including praying, praising, preaching, studying and yes, providing for the poor. It is a mistake to let any one aspect of our discipleship completely dominate the others as we are unbalanced. Yet, at the same time, this incident gives us insight to what his disciples had learned firsthand from three years of discipleship with Jesus – helping the poor was a very high priority. They had so thoroughly learned this behavior that their kneejerk reaction was to sell the oil and help the poor. Having been in the presence of Jesus, the disciple's reaction was to immediately think of the poor when they came into possession of a luxury. Is this our first thought?
Jesus' ministry seems to be both prophesied and summarized by the prophet Isaiah which Jesus quoted in the synagogue at Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry. Jesus said,
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (Luke 4:18-19 NIV)
Jesus was ordained by God to preach to the poor. His preaching included feeding them, healing them in addition to the proclamation of the Good News. I would go so far as to say that Jesus' actions of helping the poor were inseparable from his verbal message. What I mean is that simply providing people with a verbal or written message of the Gospel is only a fraction of what true, Biblical preaching is. True Biblical preaching includes all the elements of Luke 4:18-19. To do less than the above is like faith without works in that it may be something, but it is not enough. It fails to meet the full definition. We can't just preach the way we like to preach, we have to preach the way Jesus preached because he is the standard by which all preaching is measured.
So, we asked a question: "Is helping the poor a) a commandment, b) a nice, but optional thing to do or c) not necessary?" To me, the answer is obvious. If we are followers of Jesus, we will do what he did. You can't really say you are following Jesus if he goes right and you go left. What Jesus did is preach. Jesus preached by not only "public lectures" like the Sermon on the Mount, he preached by feeding, healing and relieving oppression. Can we really be a disciple (a student of Jesus), if we don't follow his lessons? If all Jesus did was go to church on Sunday, do his daily Bible readings, attend a weekly Bible class and try to live morally, most of us are in pretty good shape. If Jesus conducted himself differently than that, maybe we have some soul-searching to do.
How we handle this reality is another matter altogether. If we are neither giving alms for the poor nor actively engaged in helping them, we typically do one of two things: A) change our ways or B) justify our actions. Recently the brethren in Cleveland started a ministry for the poor children in Jamaica called Champion a Child. The newspaper heard about this and interviewed some of the brethren. If you read the article and the associated comments, you can see a vivid example of what I am talking about. Read it here. A significant number of readers wrote in criticizing them for starting this charity with comments like "How about sponsoring an AMERICAN child that is in a group home, homeless, or an orphan??? Take care of Americans before worrying about the rest of the world." Here's the inside scoop. If you looked into it, the vast majority of these critics aren't helping anybody. They are criticizing because they have chosen option B. They feel guilty because they aren't doing anything so they lash out in a typical, fleshly reaction at those that are doing something. Lesson for us: Don't be a critic. Be a doer of the word. If we have a better way to do this, show everyone by our example, not with our criticism of the doers.
Sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. (Jesus – Mark 10:21)
Have a great week,
