Are we obligated to help the
poor? We’ve all seen them – standing outside a fast-food restaurant or on a
street corner, perhaps sitting near a subway or bus station -- poor people,
probably homeless, asking for money. Oftentimes we just walk or drive on by. We
might feel a little bad about not donating, but we rationalize it in a number
of ways. “Oh, he’ll just use it to buy more booze.” Or, “If he were more
careful with money he wouldn’t be homeless.” But it’s okay to rationalize it
away because not giving to the poor isn’t that bad, right? Surely it isn’t a sin, is it?
In Matthew 25, Jesus explains the
kingdom of heaven in well-known parables. He starts out with the parable of the
ten virgins, then goes on to the parable of the talents. From there he moves on
to say:
Verses 31-46: “When the Son of man shall
come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the
throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and
ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or
thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or
naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto
thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no
drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not:
sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked,
or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer
them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least
of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting
punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” (All scriptures are from the
King James Version unless otherwise noted.)
There is a fairly obvious
conclusion to be drawn here. Jesus says plainly that those that have treated
their fellow man well have by extension treated him well. Logically, we can
conclude that those that have treated their fellow man poorly have by extension
treated him poorly.
It’s fairly simple to understand.
The concept of treating others well is the foundation of Bible-based
Christianity. The Bible seems to take special consideration of the poor:
Exodus 23:6: “Thou shalt not wrest the
judgment of thy poor in his cause.”
Leviticus 19:20: “And thou shalt not glean
thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt
leave them for the poor and stranger:”
Deuteronomy 15:7: “…thou shalt not harden
thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:”
Psalm 41:1: “Blessed is he that considereth
the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.”
Proverbs 21:13: “Whoso stoppeth his ears
at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.”
It’s easy to forget the poor, to
take very little, if any, thought for them. The rich have nice clothes and big
houses and shiny new cars – they’re flashy and pretty. The poor are often the
exact opposite – shabbily dressed, small houses, driving old beaters – if they
have a car at all. To look at them makes us feel bad, and we don’t like feeling
bad. If we can manage to ignore the poor, not think of them and their plight,
we can continue to go on about our lives feeling good.
But this is not what the Bible
preaches.
James 2:1-4: “My brethren, have not the
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For
if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and
there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that
weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and
say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not
then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”
We aren’t to treat people better
based on their physical, material wealth. The opposite therefore must be true:
we aren’t to treat people worse based on their lack of physical, material
wealth either.
Surely we don’t mean to treat any
one person or group differently than any other. Surely it’s just a matter of
forgetfulness, of innocent neglect, if we don’t go out of our way to help those
in need. Surely it isn’t that serious a deal. Jesus understands. Right?
Ezekiel 16:49: “Behold, this was the
iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of
idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand
of the poor and needy.”
The above passage makes it sound
as if neglecting to “strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” is a bit more
serious than it may at first sound. Also, going back to Matthew 25:
Verses 41-45: “Depart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an
hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was
a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in
prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord,
when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or
in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these,
ye did it not to me.”
Even if our failure to help the
poor and needy is only “innocent” neglect instead of malicious intent, the end
result is the same: condemnation.
James 4:17: “Therefore to him that
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
We recently came into contact
with a small Sabbath-keeping group in the United States which has a ministry in
East Africa. The East African brethren are faithful and devout – and poor.
We all know the tales of what
life is like in poor African countries – starvation, drought, poverty. We’ve
heard of the violence inflicted on places like Darfur in Sudan. We see the
commercials on TV that exhort us to donate, with accompanying videos of sad,
pathetic-looking children. And we change the channel, and try not to think
about it. We don’t want to feel bad for others while our TV show is on.
The situation in Africa is
certainly unpleasant to think about. Many people go days without food. Some
people have to walk two and a half hours one way just to get water. A car is an
unheard-of luxury. A man who has taken it upon himself to help the Christians
in Kenya travels long distances to help his flock – all by foot, except for the
rare occasions when he can afford the $.25 bus fare. Money goes a lot further
there than it does here.
We were told of the leader of a
large Sabbath-keeping church, a splinter from the old Worldwide Church of God, who
refused to help church members in Kenya. When told of the situation in East
Africa, the brethren suffering there, and the ways that money – any amount –
can be put to use there to ease the situation of the brethren, this church
leader said that church, religion, is a business, and that he wouldn’t send any
money to help the East Africans in need, because he “wouldn’t get any return on
the investment” – even though his church is reported to have around $500,000 in
tithes and offerings sitting in a bank account.
1 John 3:17: “But whoso hath this world's
good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion
from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
The poor and needy should not be
looked on as an investment!
Exodus 22:25: “If thou lend money to any
of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer,
neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.”
Usury is an Old English word that
essentially means interest. In other words, Exodus 22:25 states that if you
lend to the poor, don’t charge them interest on the loan – don’t look at it as
an investment!
Luke 14:12-14: “Then said he also to him
that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor
thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid
thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call
the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they
cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of
the just.”
In other words: don’t look on
charity as an investment – don’t expect to get money back from giving to those
in need.
We cannot sit idly by while a
brother is in need. But who is our brother? Only those affiliated with our
church group? Only those who attend a church at all? Or, in fact, is all of
humanity our brother?
Luke 10:25-37 “And, behold, a certain
lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy
neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do,
and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And
who is my neighbour? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his
raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance
there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on
the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and
looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him
on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the
morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and
said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come
again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was
neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed
mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”
In Jesus’ day, Samaritans were
personae non grata. The Jews would avoid having anything to do with them, at
all costs. And yet this Samaritan went out of his way to help a stranger, one
who was presumably a Jew.
There is no excuse we can use to
relieve ourselves of the duty, the obligation, to help fellow humans in need.
Galatians 6:10: “As we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the
household of faith.”
We have a responsibility to do
what we can, what is in our power, to help those in need. We are all, after
all, of the body of Christ, at least potentially – and Jesus Christ is also a part
of this body. Scripture establishes that whatever we do to our brethren – other
members of the body - we do also to him. Do we really want to be guilty of
neglecting the needs of our poor brethren – East African or otherwise – and
thereby be guilty of neglecting Jesus?
Matthew 25:41-45: “Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was
an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I
was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and
in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying,
Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or
sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them,
saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch
as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”
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