There are many complex issues and questions involved, which I do not pretend to fully understand. Nevertheless, I thought I’d still share a few thoughts and reflections:
• It grieves God that people are living in poverty such as this, and it should grieve me too. Seeing this kind of brokenness everyday can cause a certain level of desensitisation in me. But God, who sees every iota of pain in this world is not desensitised to human suffering. In fact he has entered into it, experienced it himself, and so identifies like no other with those who suffer. I need, on an on-going basis, to allow my heart to be broken by the things that break his.
• Lament in the tradition of the Psalms and prophets is quite lost on us today. We don’t like to dwell with sorrow, but usually prefer to move on quickly to lighter, more encouraging topics. Sometimes what we want from our interactions with poor people is to leave with our conscience clear, feeling okay about doing our bit to help. But maybe we’re not supposed to feel okay. Maybe we are supposed to lament... for the plight of people we meet, the brokenness of a world that puts them there, and our part in it all.
• What I see around me is not the end of the story; I need to cling to the promise of a time coming when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying nor pain anymore.”
• People reduced to begging have their dignity robbed. Just being in such a position of powerlessness and dependency is dehumanising and humiliating, but the way they are so often treated makes it even worse.
On one occasion when a lady came to beg from me, a security guard who saw the interaction came over, started yelling at her and hit her with his baton. It was made very clear to her that she was a worthless intrusion and embarrassment that was bothering the respectable white man. But she is a beautiful person loved by God and made in his image. So how can I interact with people in a way that confirms their inherent dignity and value as image bearers of God?
• Some people will hire a baby to carry around for the day. Some will feign injuries to arouse compassion and make more money. Others really do have malnourished young children they are trying to care for, or debilitating injuries that make it impossible for them to work. Some of those who beg are children who have grown up knowing no other way.
• Many beggars will turn their takings in to their boss who “owns the street”. They will only see a very small amount of the money themselves.
• While there are times when simply giving to supply material need is what is needed, it’s pretty clear to me that in the long term just handing out money is far from the best way to empower the poor and help them become the people God made them to be.
• Jesus would stop to show compassion for those who begged; who were ignored and marginalised by the ‘respectable’ people in his day (Mark 10:46-52). He also commanded us to “give to the one who begs from you”. Surely following him includes adopting a similar posture of compassion, interest, openness and generosity to ‘the least of these’ on my path?
• But it is impossible for me to give to, or try to interact well with everyone who begs from me.
• The business of restoring a broken world is God’s. While he has a part for each of us to play in bringing healing, I need to leave to God what is God’s, seeking out the life and works he has prepared in advance for me. I am not Jesus and should not get around with a messiah complex.
There are no clear answers. Many questions remain. We can lament, hope and pray. May we be led by the Spirit in showing the love of Christ to the people around us, and may his grace cover our many failures to do so.
Which is why there is some balance in that Jesus also said, "the poor will always with you". We must be careful with the context of the least of these.....He is really speaking about those who will be His disciples and how they will be treated by other brethren. Jesus never gave any one any money as far as Scripture is concerned, Peter and John said silver and gold, I don't have any but.....and the but is so important. We may not lay hands and see a "healing"- but the most important hope and healing is Christ and the Gospel. Everything else we do is attendant to that. All of Jesus miracles were attendant proofs( and they all were acts of mercy) that He was who He was and for the multitudes who benefited, it did not matter in the end, they walked away.
ReplyDeleteThat does not mean we ignore all that hurt around us. And we need to be wise as you have noted that there are the "professionals" out there. That is even true of any city-USA. These are always the hard questions when we reflect on the providence of a Sovereign God. Please, keep this in mind, wherever a true believer is placed by God that place and those people are better off, even if they do not realize it. Salt and light does its work it many ways and more often that not, it is in small ways, one day at a time.
Thanks for the comments Joe, I appreciate your perspective. I’ll just offer a few more thoughts of my own. I think I see Jesus saying that “the poor you always have with you” a little differently. I’ve often heard it used in ways that minimise the call to care for the poor. But in its context in John 12 I think Jesus is saying that into the future you will have many opportunities to give to the poor (and that in many cases it will be right to give) but as for right now he is about to go to the cross, and Mary has done a beautiful thing in anointing him for burial.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the gospel is the best news anybody could hear even if they remain physically poor, and I long for people to know Christ. But I view an aspect of that precious gospel message being about the king who has arrived to inaugurate his kingdom of shalom, justice and righteousness, and that a real, tangible taste of that has and is still now breaking into this age. In Jesus’ miracles of restoration for example I see also signs of the in-breaking kingdom that had arrived in him. The prophets depiction of the messianic age included restoration of shalom and healing of all kinds of brokenness, as well as that the good news would be made known...all of which had arrived in Christ and through his Spirit in the church. So I feel the gospel message is best communicated (and particularly among the poor) when not only are the words being spoken but the values and restoration of the kingdom is breaking in through the Spirit and the church to bring healing...whether it be miraculously as in the case of Peter and John and the healing of the lame beggar, or through the more ‘ordinary’ love and care of Christ shown to those who need it (what I’m wrestling with here as I contemplate the beggars of Dhaka).
But of course working out the implications for such theology in the concrete actions in daily life and ministry is often far from easy, and will look very different in different contexts. May we be led by the Spirit in being salt and light in the places God has put us, one day at a time, one opportunity at a time. Grace and peace.
Sorry I'm late to the party on this!
ReplyDeleteAs usual, I see Jesus talking primarily to Israel here. The Deut 15 promise was that there would be no poor amongst Israel, but God would provide abundantly - provided Israel remained faithful.
To say "the poor you will always have with you" - in Israel - is a chilling indictment upon a people who have rejected their Messiah. It's certainly not an acceptance of the status quo, it is an alarming statement.
As God's people expand to include Gentiles, this intention of "no poor among you" applies to the church most definitely - and then flows outward from there.
Love to hear your thoughts on that, Monsieur Affliction :)
Hi Mick,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughts. I did have that Deut 15 promise in the back of my mind as I was thinking about Jesus' saying "the poor you will always have with you", but didn't quite think it through like you did to the indictment on a people who have neglected the "weightier" matters of the law, and now their messiah. Thanks for pointing it out.
And I definitely agree that as we now live in this age of the church, that we must be shaped according to the spirit of the law / values of the kingdom, overflowing to those around us, wherever God has placed us.