On the Church Helping the Poor (Part 1)
Jesus is not hoping that helping people in need will be a priority. Jesus assumes that this is ingrained in the DNA of His followers, permanently imprinted on our hearts.
As I began this piece, I realized that it had no chance as a single post on a blog. For that reason, I will divide this into two or possibly three Monday posts about the church and caring for the poor.
Well, I did it again. I let myself get sucked into the Facebook vortex. Which may be okay, if you do not let the vortex twist you into being unreasonable.
And well, once again, I failed epically at that. Next thing you know, I am rage posting—completely hypocritical reaction since the original post was cryptic enough to throw the door wide open for any type of commentary.
Several acquaintances called me to exercise discernment along with serious self-reflection. In response, I engaged in that most humbling of exercises: deleting. And simultaneously apologizing, while trying to interact on a reasonable level. (See more here about the idea of being reasonable and why it matters). Rather than go through all the details of the point/counterpoint/outrage/apology that ensued, I will narrow down to the more productive and reasonable section of the debate.
Following the calm after the kerfuffle, my Facebook counter-contrarians joined me in a more civil discourse. He put forward the oft-repeated conservative trope that helping the poor is the church’s task, pointing out that Jesus never endorsed public funds for such activities.
I believe we, we being the church, are responsible to clothe and feed the poor. We have put that off on the government to make ourselves feel better about our lack of activity. God didn't command the government to be the salt and the light, he commanded us.
Let’s start by dealing with what is right.
First, we ARE responsible for providing for the poor. Second, we have often whimpered in meeting that obligation. Third, we often do just enough to make ourselves feel better for our half-hearted attempts to invest in/empower underserved communities. Finally, the church is prone to resignation by saying, “Well, what can you do? The poor you will always have with you…” I loathe the misuse of that last verse, and it is too often an excuse
Let us start this journey with a list of things that Jesus never said, followed by some of His words that we conveniently ignore.
What Jesus Never Said
Not a single passage exists where Jesus proclaims that ONLY disciples of Christ are responsible for taking care of the poor. Never did Jesus say that governing authorities could not or should not help with feeding, care, or support of the poor. And never did I ever read where Jesus said that serving the underserved is a task that HAS to be undertaken by religious people.
This idea that ONLY followers of Jesus should take up the problem of poverty is so oft-repeated as a reason for killing government programs or lowering taxes that one has to ask: what is the real motivation for it? Is it about following Jesus’ commands or about our fear that someone might get something that they do not “deserve?” And that “deserve” word carries a whole lotta self-serving baggage.
I tend to think it is the latter. Because the case that Jesus never intended for government authorities to help the poor just ain’t so. Simply put…
What Jesus DID say
“Jesus never told the government to help the poor—He told US to do that!” This extremely narrow and overly literalist interpretation is partially correct. Yes, Jesus commanded His disciples to go out of their way to care for the most vulnerable in society. But He never said that disciples should do so instead of or in place of assistance from governing authorities or other organizations.
Jesus wanted us—and others—to take care of the most vulnerable in society. This command is intensely clear without any caveats about who was or was not allowed to participate. And this is just Jesus, not even touching on the Old Testament or New Testament letters.
Just to name a few:
(**Side Note: If anyone wants to pull John 12:1-8 out to counter this, leave it in the comments. Happy to meet that challenge).
These are not requests, but commands. This is not Jesus hoping that helping people in need will be a priority. This is Jesus assuming that this is ingrained in the DNA of His followers, permanently imprinted on our hearts.
How can we spend our time coming up with reasons NOT to help those in need when it is supposed to be a feature of our faith, not an addendum?
But again, “He never said the government…”
However, He DID say to pay our taxes (like it or not, Matthew 22:21). He did have harsh words for the Jewish and non-Jewish authorities who hurt those that lived under their leadership. Perhaps Jesus was more interested in helping people than deciding who was “allowed” to do the work.
Certain people “sell” the narrative that our taxes are so high because of the poor (they’re not). That all poor people are lazy freeloaders (they’re not). That poor people are living in the lap of luxury because they steal from the government (they’re not). If you think poor people are lazy and collecting easy money, try applying for Medicaid and see how that goes.
Yet, this is not the problem. The problem is that we buy into these narratives that justify our unwillingness to help the poor. We make up this convenient excuse and selective interpretation of Jesus’ words not because we want to be faithful. It is because helping the poor can be hard and sacrificial and we just don’t want to do it.
How much more could we accomplish if we stopped complaining about underserved communities and got serious about the hard, challenging, disciple-required work of empowering them? And empowering them through the church, public policy, legislation, whatever it takes.
Let’s get as serious about doing the work of helping the underserve as we are at complaining about how we shouldn’t have to.
I think your point about the narratives required to refuse to fix problems associated with poverty is exactly right. I recently read Matthew Desmond's latest book "Poverty, by America," in which he talks about this exact topic. Most Americans don't see the ways that they also benefit from government welfare programs (the mortgage interest deduction was one example). On average the top 20 percent of income distribution receives 40% more in government subsidies and welfare than the poorest 20 percent. In that sense it is critically important how the narratives are structured on why people are poor and who benefits the most.
As a person who marvels at the Grace she has been given time after time after time (and that's just on a random Tuesday), I think "deserve" is a terrifying word. If I went through life getting what I "deserved" . . . well.