Caring for the poor
Deuteronomy Chapters 14 and 15 Read it here
The central importance of caring for the poor as part of our worship of God is impossible to miss in scripture—but not always as central to the way we live our lives together. Both Chapters 14 and 15 have things to say about it.
Verses 15:4-5 make a statement about Israel that could easily apply to the United States as well: “However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.”
There is no question that the U.S. (and arguably the world) has ample resources for everyone to be adequately fed, housed and medically cared for.
The challenges we face are in how to make that happen in a way that encourages mutual respect, peace and fairness for all.
Too often we allow political discourse to distort legitimate questions of how to fight poverty into accusations of unwillingness to fight poverty. And, to be fair, those same disagreements too often provide political cover for greed.
One of the challenges we have to face as a church is how to make it clear that poverty must be addressed, and to take the lead in addressing it.
A strategy that would immediately help is to stop accusing anyone who disagrees with our preferred strategy of having malicious motives, and to make it clear that eradication of poverty is our mandate—as clear in our actions as it is in the words of scripture.
This chapter also contains a statement that helps clarify something Jesus will say many years afterward. Verse 11 says, “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.”
Jesus knew this verse well. When he observed there would always be poor among us, but that his time was limited, he wasn’t diminishing the need to be openhanded toward the poor and needy—he was calling to mind this ongoing responsibility.
Debate on the best approach to relieving poverty is unavoidable, but can’t be allowed to obscure the goal.