The Christian and and the Poor

I have been greatly troubled over the past several months by much of the propaganda propagated by the religious right, epitomized by groups such as the Tea Party, as it relates to the Obama administration and its social agenda. Especially in the arena of health care reform, the hostility has permeated every facet of the debate. Words such as communist and socialism, Marxist, etc, have been hurled around venomously with little regard for truth or reality. 

This debate has really brought into focus the divide between what the scriptures teach and what many in our society assume is God's position. There is this very unfortunate assumption that God is somehow the author and architect of free enterprise and capitalism. After all, God only helps those who help themselves and if someone is not a part of the proper social or economic class, then it's obvious that they are deficient in some way. Why should we give up our hard earned money to fund food stamp programs or provide Medicaid for impoverished children? Why should we care about the millions of Americans who can't afford health insurance and suffer without access to basic health care services? Let them get a job and work, this is the American way! Anyone who has gumption and who is willing to work can achieve success in our society, right?

Obviously, this is not true. Success is an American illusion for many people. Much of our political and economic structure really does help the rich get richer and keeps the poor in their place. It reminds me of a passage in the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus 13:23,24:

The rich person speaks and all are silent; they extol to the clouds what he says. The poor person speaks and they say, "Who is this fellow?" And should he stumble, they even push him down. Riches are good if they are free from sin; poverty is evil only in the opinion of the ungodly." 

There really is truth to the idea that the rich get richer and the poor are getting poorer. And, in reality, this is simply a product of the fallen world we live in. Jesus himself told us that the poor will always be with us. No matter what we do, poverty will always be a human predicament. What is at issue, however, is our response, as Christians, to poverty and the responsibility we have in trying to help the less fortunate within our world and society. 

Raymond McAfee Brown, in a sermon entitled "Sacrifice and the Federal Budget" (recorded in a book entitled Reclaiming the Bible: Words for the Nineties) stated the following: 

Our starting point as Christians in dealing with the budget is quite clear: we are called upon to make : "a preferential option for the poor." The phrase—now a familiar one in Catholic social teaching—is a kind of summary of God's activity in the biblical story, in which God is always found on the side of the poor and dispossessed. This does not mean that God hates the rich, or that there is an exclusive "option for the poor" to the neglect of everyone else, but that God's first, though not last, concern is for those who are on the bottom of the heap. And if that is where God is, that is where God's people, both individually and collectively, are supposed to be also, in solidarity with the victims.

This means that in approaching any federal budget, this year or next year, we as Christians cannot ask initially, "What's in it for us" or "Can't we find a loophole that will make our own participation less onerous? Somewhere along the way, since we live in a fallen world, we will almost certainly ask such questions, whether we should or not, but our initial question must center on whether a given proposal helps or hinders the poor and impoverished. This is doubly important when, as is so often the case, the poor and impoverished turn out to be people of another race or class than our own, about whom the general public couldn't case less. And since folks like us have an inordinate percentage of goods and capital and economic opportunities, part of the task of any budget must be to express special concern for the victims and provide a helping hand. This will impact how we assess health care proposals, education allotments, the ratio of cuts in defense to rebuilding the inner cities, and whether an energy tax will help or hinder the financial stability of a family on the margin of bare survival.

It is never easy to take such priorities seriously, but we must keep trying to do so, not only because they are morally demanded of us but also because so few other groups in society see that as their task. (pp. 123-24)

While Brown's observations were definitely relevant in the early nineties when this sermon was initially preached, I can not help but think that his words are especially important today. Somehow, there is a huge disconnect between much of mainstream evangelical Christianity and the biblical attitude toward the poor and needy in our world. Brown is right, scripture does show a distinct and preferential option for the poor. God always esteemed the needs of those less fortunate, making their needs and treatment a national priority. It is our biblical and moral responsibility to reach out to the poor and less fortunate.

As Christian Americans, we should support any legislation that helps the needs of this large and growing segment of our population. Regardless of our political affiliations, our idealistic conceptions, etc, we can not ignore God's attitude toward the disenfranchised and those living on the margins of society. Without belaboring this point, let me point out two scriptural illustrations that bear this out. 

One is the Hebrew Year of Jubilee, occurring every fiftieth year. On these occasions, there were three items of restoration that directly affected the poor, showing God's societal priorities. First, personal liberty was extended to anyone who found themselves enslaved due to economic reasons. Second, there was a restoration of all properties sold or forfieted by anyone who lost them because of economic conditions. Lastly, economic expansion was to give way to a national rest, where everyone was to simply survive on what had been accumulated in previous years. These ideas strike a disconcerting chord to the expansive ideals of a captialist system. 

The second illustration comes from the New Testament where Jesus announced his priorities at the onset of his ministry. Quoting from Isaiah chapter 61, Jesus claims that he has come to minister to the hurting, sick, impoverished, and marginalized. He says that he has come to announce the acceptable year of the Lord, which was a direct reference to the year of Jubilee that we just spoke of. 

Given the reality of the above, it is obvious that there is a great divide between what God values and so much of what so-called Christianity purports to be righteous today. If we err anywhere, it should not be here. We should do anything in our power to help the less fortunate in our world because this is exactly what Jesus would do.