The Perpetual Poor

The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.  (Mark 14:7)

            Again at first glance this verse appears to be in sharp contrast with the earlier Deuteronomy verse (15:4).  However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you.

            These verses that describe Jesus’ anointing with expensive perfume at Bethany tell us more about the attitudes of the disciples than about a new or differing theology of the poor.  Jesus is not advocating neglecting the poor because you will also have the poor among you.

            The woman with the alabaster jar of very expensive perfume is anointing Jesus.  This is an extremely critical point in Jesus’ ministry.  Note that this event is occurring immediately before the Lord’s Supper, Gethsemane, His Arrest, Trials, and Crucifixion.

            The rebuke Jesus railed against the disciples had more to do with addressing their indignation—they were upset perhaps that this woman of questionable character would perceive the significance of the moment.  In John’s account of this event, Jesus says; “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.  You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”  (John 12:7-8) 

            The woman understood the consequence of Jesus’ mission, while those closer to him did not.  The rebuke brings the totality of the event into a clear focus.  Our spiritual response to Jesus is urgent.  Our work among the poor will be constant for the poor will always be among us.  However, there are times that we must not allow a work that is always present to hinder us from our spiritual relationship and worship duties.

            Balance is the key!  In The Salvation Army, we struggle constantly with this.  How do we equalize our spiritual and social ministries?

Can you recall a situation where you have become upset or even indignant over the use of resources for a spiritual function?  And perhaps you thought the funds could have been used better for a more compassionate effort?

How do you balance the spiritual and social ministries at your church?

If anyone has material possessions

 and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him,

how can the love of God be in him?

1 John 3:17

A Godly Response: Moderation

“Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!  You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.”

Habakkuk 2:9-11

Frank E. Gabelein wrote in a Christianity Today article entitled “Challenging Christians to the Simple Lifestyle” (September 21, 1979) the following:

With all the Old Testament says about wealth and prosperity, it sets them in clearly defined perspective.  While not forbidding them, it hedges them about with restrictions and cautions.  They are not to be accumulated just for the sake of getting more and more; they must not be gained by oppression and injustice; they can and do lead to covetousness.  They do not belong to us but to God, who is the ultimate owner of all we have.  Therefore, we are stewards, not proprietors, of our wealth.  In our use of it, we are sinning if we do not reflect God’s strong concern for the poor and the hungry, the weak and oppressed.  What we do with what we have must be in accord with the great command to love God with everything we are and have.

            The follower of Christ must be ever so carefully to live a life of justice and mercy and ensure that who we are, the positions we hold and the possessions we gain are gathered and used as stewards.  Unfortunately, we live in a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  The rich and powerful elevate their status in life at the expense of the poor and powerless.  These few verses in Habakkuk expressly denounce building up oneself at the expense of others.

           What is the relationship between justice, greed and a moderate lifestyle?

  As followers of Christ, how would you define a “moderate lifestyle”?

            A comedian once said, “I know in my heart, by pure logic, that any man who claims to be a leader of a church is a hustler if he has two suits in a world in which most people have none.”  How do you respond?

 “They know nothing, they understand nothing.

They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken."  

Psalm 82:5

A Godly Response to the Poor

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land

the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11

            Outlined in these verses is the appropriate, godly response to the poor.  As we read the Old Testament law, it become quite evident that the suitable reaction to the poor is an emphasis on a ‘handup’ out of poverty rather than a ‘handout’.  When a ‘handout’ approach is taken, the poor often are left powerless and dependent upon the giver of the handout.  The dominant of society maintain their place of prominence, while the poor also maintain their place of inferiority and lack of resources and dignity.  When a ‘handup’ is given, the one receiving is given opportunity and access to resources.  A ‘handup’ is empowerment to aid in the solving of one’s own problems and needs.

            Consider the law of the gleanings as found in Leviticus 19:9-10:  ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen.  Leave them for the poor and the alien.  I am the Lord your God.’

            Among the Sabbath laws we find the command to leave the land fallow on the seventh year.  ‘. . .during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused.  Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave.  Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove (Exodus 23:11).’

            A godly response to the poor includes being openhanded.

            A godly response to the poor includes lending freely.

            A godly response to the poor includes harboring no wicked thoughts towards the poor.

            A godly response to the poor includes giving generously.

Remember there will always be poor people in the land.

What experiences have you been involved in which you have given a ‘handout’?  What experiences have you been involved in which you have given a ‘handup’?  What was the significant difference in these two approaches?

Rescue the weak and needy;

Deliver them from the hand of the

wicked.

Psalm 82:4

No Poor Among You

There should be no poor among you,

for in the land of the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you.

Deuteronomy 15:4

                       

Even before the Fall, Adam was commanded to work the garden and take care of God’s creation.  While undertaking this activity, the earth would yield fruits of human labor.  God the Creator intends that the creation in combination with human effort would produce the necessary sustenance for life.  The original intentions of the Creator have not changed since the Fall of Adam and Eve.

       

It is foreseeable that some families would produce more food than they themselves would need.  What than would happen to the surplus?  Does one try to stockpile it—saving it for harder, leaner times?  Or perhaps sell it or exchange it through bartering?  How does one do this keeping faithful to God’s original intentions and one’s selfish desires?  The point is that the Fall has left mankind with a deep gap between God’s intentions and mankind’s practices.

D. Hughes writes, “The central theme of biblical teaching on economic activity is that everyone should enjoy the benefits that accrue from it.  In this sphere Old Testament law, prophetic pronouncements and the teaching of Jesus and his apostles are very much biased towards the poor.”[1]

In Deuteronomy, God commands his people to be certain that there exists no poor among them.  In other words, God indicates that the heavenly blessings will exceed life’s requirements.  The surplus of God’s people must be freely distributed to the poor.  God’s desire is not that the poor should have to beg and become further indebted to the wealthy of society, but that godly people would see the need and abundantly respond.  Hughes observes that “in the community of God’s people, Israel the rich were to supply freely the means for the poor to work themselves out of poverty.”

Why has our world forsaken God’s intentions?

Are the words of God—“there should be no poor among you”—relevant to today’s world?

What are you personally doing to keep these words of God?

God presides in the great assembly;

He gives judgment among the “gods”;

“How long will you defend the unjust

and show partiality to the  wicked?”

Psalm 82:1-2

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[1] D. Hughes, God of the Poor, p. 157.