The Exploited, Impoverished, and Oppressed (The Faces of Poverty)
The Old Testament view of poverty is put forth in Amos 2:6-7:
This is what the LORD says: 'For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy [ebyon] for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor [dallim] as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed [anawim]. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar.
Three types of poverty are referred to in this passage. The ebyon are those who are totally dependent on others, people who are destitute and must beg to survive. Those who are dallim are the physically weak and materially poor - they do not have the money or the strength to make it in life. Then there are the anawim - those who are of no account, those who are broken under their own weight of poverty to the point of being dependant on others for survival. Today we would call the ebyon the expolited; the dallim, the impoverished; the anawim, the oppressed.
The significant point of this passage is not what the Israelites understood about the nature of poverty. The point of the passage is that God condemns Israel for allowing some of its people to be exploited, impoverished, or oppressed. "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath..."
Are You Needy?
A Jewish rabbi once wrote of Jesus,
I sometimes think that if Jesus had given a little of the gentleness and love which he displayed for the tax-collector and the outcast to his Rabbinic antagonists, some of them might have been won over to his cause. After all, they too were human beings, and although Jesus seemed to forget it, they too...were sinners with souls to save.
In fact, Jesus did not forget this at all! He knew those rabbis were sinners; that they were destitute, impoverished, and oppressed by their religious system. Jesus knew this. The problem was that the rabbis did not know they were sinners! Instead, they stood in the Temple and prayed, "God ...thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like the tax collector" (Luke 18:11).
What incited Jesus most about a person - whether they were religious or not - was when they refused to see themselves as a destitute and impoverished sinner in need of God’s transforming love. Jesus did not care to long-suffer with folks who used their wealth, power, or religion to separate themselves from the needy, saying, "I am not like other men."
When people fail to see and understand that their wealth may be depriving a poor and needy person of the necessities of life; when they fail to see that their religion may be geared in such a way as to make them feel good about themselves and their way of life rather than helping them perceive their need of God’s forgiveness and love, then (says Jesus) they become one who has eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear. Consequently, such people are enemies of God and His Son!
However, if, in having a lot of money (or little), you are poor in heart; if, in having great power and wealth (or little), you hunger after a right relationship with God and justice for the poor and needy; if, in being actively involved in a church on its fringes, you seek to love those in need and remain "meek" and "little" before God, then you are a friend of Jesus, you are one of those who can hear and receive the Good News He has for you.
What The Church Can Do That Gov’t Programs Can’t
The goal of Strong Tower Fellowship is to restore peace in Pleasant Hill. The most effective way to achieve this goal is by and through the establishment of an indigenous church. Such a church is better capable of producing a more holistic context for redactional ministry than any government or social program. In support of this thinking, the January 9, 1996 issue of the New York Times carried an article on the ineffectiveness of government programs to alleviate poverty. The article plainly stated that the following programs: Urban Renewal - 1949, Community Action - 1964 Model Cities - 1966, Community Development Block Grants - 1974, Urban Development Grants - 1977, Enterprise Zones - 1980, Empowerment Zones - 1993, could show no evidence of improvement in any urban community.
Government programs have failed not only because they are an unsatisfactory means for delivering the basic welfare benefit's package, but because the benefit's package itself is flawed. Government welfare programs focus on cash and commodities, but these are not things that can truly transform the lives of the poor. A church is better suited and equipped to change lives, not only because it can deliver services more effectively, but because its package is different. A church can provide "goods" like, love, emotional support, trust, accountability, hope, character development, and training in basic skills, all in the context of moral authority, spiritual instruction, and relationships. As William Raspberry well stated,
The most successful social programs are those that are driven by moral or religious values. Show me a program that helps people change there lives, as opposed to just dealing with the physical, and I will show you a program with a strong element of the spiritual."
Jesus Was A Friend To The Poor
While only 2% of evangelical Christians know and are in a relationship with a poor person, Jesus was a partisan of the poor. He ate with tax collectors, counted prostitutes as friends, healed lepers, and restored sight to the blind (all of whom were considered as rejects in Jewish society). Furthermore, he reached out to Gentiles (which was a no-no), women (also a no-no), and children. All of these members of society were relegated to second-class citizenship. Further still, Jesus fed the hungry, which was a service which few cared to do. In fact, when asked by the disciples of John the Baptist for proof that he was the Messiah, Jesus answered, " Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me" (Luke 7:22-23 NIV).
Jesus was an advocate for the poor, needy, and oppressed; for those not receiving justice. Athol Gill writes in a monograph ("From Down Under"),
Jesus grew up on the margins of Galilean society far removed from the enter of economic and religious power. In his ministry he was open to a wide range of people, but he was particularly drawn to the outcasts, the marginalized and oppressed people of Galilee. The religious and political authorities were offended at the way he overturned contemporary economic and religious customs. But he saw his teaching and lifestyle as a reflection of nature of God and his kingdom which he believed was breaking into history through his ministry. In the light of the kingdom he called people to follow him in his ministry.
In his ministry, Jesus moved among the outcasts and the needy, had no place to lay his head, and was intentionally poor (which was indicated by his borrowing of boats and coins on occasion). Jesus was in solidarity with the poor. He took time to listen to them. He taught them in their terms. He chose many of his disciples from among them. Not least, he worshiped, ate, and had fellowship with them. He was concerned for their humiliation and rejection by society, and he went out of his way to affirm them - seeking their restoration and healing. By all measures, Jesus was a friend to the poor!
How much of the same solidarity do we, the followers of Jesus, have with the poor and needy today?
Becoming Family To The Poor
If you woke up tomorrow and were poor, to whom would you choose to reach out for help - your mother, your father, a pastor, a social worker?
In a crisis, most of us will run to people we can trust; to those people who will be there for us. Typically, these trusted relationships start with our family and extend to our friends (who are like family).
Scripture supports this natural inclination we all have to turn to our parents, sisters, brothers, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles when we are in times of need. Families have a special, God-given, responsibility to care for their own in trouble. In fact, 1Timothy 5:3-4 states that families that want to please God are to care for each other.
Yet, the poor and needy, especially those experiencing generational poverty, may not have family members who can help them. And if they do, it is often the case that such family members are struggling with tough issues such as single parenting, drug abuse, and juvenile delinquency. Thus, the relatives to whom the poor and needy would turn are (themselves) in great need. How is one to get out of this damning cycle of despair?
Simply put, somebody must become family to those without supportive families of their own. Mother Teresa once said that the AIDs patients she visited in New York City were the poorest of the poor. Their poverty was worse than any she encountered daily in Calcutta. These patients lacked family and trusted relationships. They had no one to see them through their crisis. In Mother Teresa’s opinion, this emotional isolation was worse than any sort of financial poverty, and poor and needy families must constantly deal with both.
Who becomes the supportive family to the poor when the family unit is nonexistent? Well, there is a special calling that God has given His church. We are to reach out to the poor and needy. In the absence of family, we (the Church) have the privilege of standing in the gap (see Ezekiel 22:30).
Where Jesus Is
Jesus does not need to go to the urban core or the inner city...He is already there. There are laborers in the trenches right now - ministering among the poor and needy, and praying that God would send refreshers, helpers, and equippers to increase what He is already doing. Every day I ask God to send laborers to Strong Tower Fellowship to help with what God is already doing in Pleasant Hill.
Missionary Viv Grigg states:
To find Him, we must go where HE is. Did He not say, ‘Where I am, there shall my servant be also?’ Such a search invariably leads us into the heart of poverty. For Jesus always goes to the point of deepest need. Where there is suffering. He will be there binding wounds. His compassion eternally drives Him to human need. Where there is injustice, He is there. His justice demands it. He does not dwell on the edge of the issues. HE is involved, always doing battle with the fieriest of the forces of evil and powers of darkness.
It is simply wrong to think that Jesus is not already ministering to the "deepest needs" in our low-income communities. And you must decide if you are going to be a part of what God is already doing for those people who are most in need in our country.
God is in the business of redeeming and transforming lives. His Church is called to participate in this great work that brings God's glory. God has a plan for His church that is bigger than any of us can imagine. Whoever we are and wherever we live, God wants to use us and our churches to reach the poor and needy. He knows where He wants us and He will direct our steps. He will not waste one yielded church member through which to display His glory.
Come and join what God is doing in your inner city and urban core communities!
Learning From the Poor
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, [and] he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. - Luke 10:33-34 (New International Version)
Of all the people that Jesus introduced , the Samaritan, a member of an oppressed group (see here), had the shortest (qualitative) distance to cross in order to touch the injured man. For he knew what it felt like to be ignored, despised, spit on, and abandoned. He understood full well what it was like to feel utterly helpless and dependent on God’s grace and mercy. In fact, it is very likely that he had seen his own people lying injured in the middle of the road somewhere, which is (probably) why the story portrays the Samaritan's compassion as unfettered and immediate. His caring response was spontaneous, and it came out of his own experiences.
When it comes to loving our neighbor today, the principle of this parable is not much different. For it is the Christians who personally identify with the poor, the broken, the afflicted, and the displaced (a la the Samaritan) that (still) best demonstrate love for neighbor. Moreover, they can most clearly show the Church what neighbor love really looks like.
For many Christians, the Parable of the Good Samaritan is an anecdote about a good guy who did a good thing for someone in need. And far too often, Christians wish to identify with this good Samaritan - thinking he is an able, kind-hearted, God-loving, middle-class person like themselves (or, at least, who they think themselves to be) . However, the story which Jesus tells elevates poor, down trodden believers as the image bearers of God’s idea of love for neighbor. The others who love God, including the privileged Jewish attorney (see Luke 10:25), are told to learn from this group.
What a radical concept to think of: a well-educated, socially accepted man learning from a member of a minority group, who lived in the least-esteemed neighborhood in greater Jerusalem. Yet, that is how radical neighbor love is - it empowers even the most destitute Christians to lead the way in loving others.
Know The Poor…They’re Not Projects
The great weakness and failure of the church in our day is not that the well-off do not care about the poor and needy. The problem is that well-off Christians do not know the poor and needy. Less than 2% of Evangelical Christians are in any kind of a relationship with anyone who is poor and or needy. All too often the poor and needy - people in poverty - are just a mission project and not genuine friends with whom we can laugh, cry, dream, and struggle. Helping the poor wins the praise of man. Knowing the poor wins the approval of God. Jesus tells the church to go and find the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the imprisoned...Jesus in His disguises. The truly biblical church takes this search for Jesus seriously by "going into the highways and byways, and compelling them to come in" (Luke 14:23).
Jesus did not see the poor and needy as projects. He sought after them. He knew them. He lived close to them. He loved them. He ate with them. He walked with them. He suffered with them.
It has been said, "Ask the poor. They will tell you who the Christians are." It is time for the well-off in the church to not only seek relationships and friendships with the well-off and the powerful but to also identify ourselves with those on the margins, in the example of our Savior and leader, Jesus Christ.
Ministry Is All About “Being There”
The best way to do community development ministry is by establishing a physical presence - a church. Churches can produce a more holistic context for relational ministry than social and government programs. "Being there" is vital to restoring communities.
An article in Newsweek, June, 1999, about Rev Eugene Rivers, leader of a Christian community development ministry in Boston that targets urban at-risk youth and gang members, related the following story:
Rivers sought out local drug dealer and gangbanger named Selvin Brown, ‘ a sassy smartass, tough-talking, gung slinging mother shut your mouth,’ he says, not without some appreciation. Brown took the Reverend into crack-houses, introduced him to the neighborhood, and he gave Rivers, a Pentecostal, a lesson in why God was losing to gangs in the battle for the souls of inner-city kids. Selvin explained to him, ‘I’m there when Johnny goes out for a loaf of bread for Mama. I’m there, you’re not. I win, you loose. It’s all about being there.’
Are you aware of a "being there" Christian ministry or church in your city? If so, find out about it, pray for it, and consider joining it in the trenches of the battle to restore the community!!
Jesus, God In Sandals
I once read,
Jesus embodied all of God’s desires and passions and hopes and dreams, because Jesus was God in sandals.
That is such a great image: God in sandals. What could be more amazing than the idea of the Sovereign and Almighty God walking around with dirty feet! The incarnation gave God a face. It gave Him literal tears, a literal heart, literal laughter, literal hands, and literal feet. Moreover, the fact of the incarnation gives us incite into the things that matter most to God. We can be sure that those things which God did while living among us (in the person of Jesus) were of great importance to Him and his vision for humanity. And what we find as central to God's affections is his love for outsiders and outcasts.
If Jesus is God, then God has not forgotten the downtrodden and oppressed. In fact, Jesus had a special relationship with most of those forgotten folks of first-century society: women, tax-collectors, sick people, minorities, and sinners. Further, Jesus welcomed children into His arms; washed His disciples feet; took contagious lepers by the hand; and surrounded Himself with the poor and uneducated. Strikingly, Jesus began His first sermon by explaining that although the poor are unlucky victims, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 6:20). Even when the crowds got so big that people were stepping all over each other; even when the beggars became loud and obnoxious, Jesus was, nevertheless, "moved with compassion," as Matthew tells us time and time again (Matt. 9:36; 15:32; 20:34). So, why is it that we are so put off, frustrated, uncomfortable, indifferent, and ambivalent toward the poor? I think it's time we ask ourselves (dare I say it?), "What would Jesus do?" Or better yet, "What would Jesus have us do?"