“The poor you will always have with
you…” Those are the words of Jesus of
Nazareth toward the end of his ministry.
Although the context of the statement was made in connection with the
anointing of his feet with expensive oils by a woman shortly before his
crucifixion, and the consequent complaint by one of his disciples that the oil
might have instead been sold and the proceeds given to the poor…it nevertheless
is a statement worthy of consideration.
By this statement, Jesus obviously did
not mean that the poor were unimportant or of no consequence. In fact, some of the most direct and
meaningful teaching of both Jesus and other writers of Scripture, both Old and
New Testaments, is in regard to providing help for those who could not
otherwise help themselves. The commands
and the examples are plain enough. It
doesn’t take a theologian to decipher the meaning of these words from John’s
letter, “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet
closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” Or perhaps this passage from the book of
Hebrews: “Do not neglect to do good and
to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Or what about this one from the Proverbs? “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the
poor will himself call out and not be answered.”
There are dozens of places in both
testaments that speak of the poor and our obligation to them. There is no way that I am aware of in
Scripture that allows us to dismiss the poor and refuse to help when we can and
are able. The question, however, always
seems to be to what extent do we share what we have and how much we help those
who have not. For that I have no answer
for you. I can only answer for myself.
I believe God does not expect me to
place myself into poverty by helping others escape it. I believe God does not expect me to fix the
world. And I do not believe that God
wants me to enable bad behavior rather I think He expects me to be wise in providing
needed help.
With those things in mind, the
questions of whether or not to help, when to help, how much to help, and when
to cease helping become variable…as variable as the specific situation that
presents itself. Each one of those
questions and each one of the situations that present are unique. No one can, or should, second guess the
efforts or lack of effort on the part of someone to help the poor. Each person stands or falls before God…not
other people.
Scripture does tell us to be generous
with what God has given us. “Give
generously to the poor, and do so without a grudging heart,” the Good Book
says. I fear that even though we may
give, we often do so with less than a generous heart…and more so with a mindset
that we have somehow met an obligation and that God should be happy with what
we’ve done…as if we can somehow earn God’s favor by throwing some morsels
toward the poor.
Giving is as much an attitude and
attribute of the heart and soul as it is the physical act of parting with some
of one’s possessions for the benefit of someone who has none. A generous and giving attitude will manifest
itself well-enough in the physical act of giving. A stingy attitude will manifest itself as
well…in a dismissal of need, in a superior, haughty attitude, and in a smug
sense of security and self-satisfaction at having provided for one’s own needs. Such an attitude forgets that all one has
ultimately comes from God, and that none of us are truly deserving of any of
it…that all is given simply because of God’s grace and generous nature. We all are at the mercy of a loving and
generous God.
“The poor you will always have with
you.” Yes, indeed we WILL always have
the poor with us. And because that is
true, we always will have the need to help as we can and are able. And we are to do so with a generous as well
as a thankful heart…generous in giving…thankful that God has blessed us with
the means to give.
Blessings,
