Remembering the "Least of These" During Christmas tagged: , , ,

Remembering the "Least of These" During Christmas

Posted by in Church & Missions

Before ancient Israel entered into the land of God’s promise, Moses gave his final instructions.  One of these commands specifically in Deuteronomy 15, instruct the Hebrew believers in God “…not to harden your heart, not shut your hand” to the poor.  It is from this set of instructions, interpreted over thousands of years, which have given those cultures formed from a Judeo-Christian worldview the idea of helping the poor.  Church food closets, ministries such as The Salvation Army, and the vast array of Christian hospitals are the result of believers understanding the need to promote a hand up to people in financial, physical, and emotional need.  Government programs such as welfare, social services, and food stamps also are founded upon this same religious principle, yet are often moribund and in some cases harmful to families in need. What has been noted throughout the ages is a truism – help best is served from an open and loving heart, one who cheerfully gives away what they have been given.

As believers we often need to be reminded about the needs of the poor – not because of pride or arrogance, for but “by the grace of God, so I.”  Because they are often defenseless, they make an easy target for hucksters, swindlers, and even the government.  Because they have few resources (and often times a low self-esteem) to fight back, many routinely are taken advantage of.  Because they are poor, government officials rarely take notice of them, and often ignore injustices done to them.

The poor are all around us.  A widow lives alone in the home both her and her husband purchased sixty years ago.  She subsists on Social Security for her income, and Medicare for her health insurance. She is constantly trying to decide for which of the following to pay: food, utilities, drugs, or her property tax bill (which keeps going up – and she had better pay it too, or the government will sell her house on the courthouse steps).  Another example would be the working family who have a few children to feed (more than the average two, oftentimes numbering in half a dozen), and little money to spare. They are routinely ridiculed behind their back for having so many children and few resources to provide for them even by the brethren.  How about the young man who, being at the wrong place at the wrong time, finds himself under arrest and in jail?  If he had money for bail he would be out and free, but because he does not, (and appointed attorneys are often overworked and underpaid) he stays in jail for a long period of time before the system clears and releases him.  He is not released, however, before he loses his job that is the only means to support his family.  Token apologies, unfortunately, do not get a job back, or put food on the table.  These few examples are from my town of Sedalia Missouri, yet are more than likely true about communities all over our country and the world. They are probably true of your community.

The last example above irritates me.  In a perfect world, justice is blind.  In our imperfect one, justice has a hand out.  If you can pay for a good attorney, fine … justice is usually fair.  If you cannot, justice is vengeful and blind to your circumstances.  Prosecutors, as hard working industrious and conscientious as a majority of them are, are like every other force in the universe: they move towards the path of least resistance – and that path is the poor.  There are plenty of statistics to prove that the poor commit as many or as fewer crimes as any other economic group – yet their numbers in the legal system (and in prison) far outweigh any other – usually because they are an easier conviction.

The poor also find themselves in more trouble with welfare agencies than any other group of people.  The Juvenile and Social Service authorities, as fine of folks as they are, often are unmoved to provide services unless instructed by a judge, who has been convinced by an attorney to move in a families behalf.  Unfortunately, the poor cannot afford such a mouthpiece, relying instead upon family supporters such as clergy who are routinely ignored by the establishment because they have no clout. The social institutions that have been developed as a “safety net” and a stopgap for the poor are often times the destroyers of poor families – thus why should we truly rely upon them?

In Isaiah 58, the prosperous ask God, “why do we worship you and you do not see?”  “Because,” God responds, “you have enslaved the poor – true worship of Me is helping those in need, and being fair with them.”  I hope and pray that we will continue to respond as a believing community appropriately to the needs of the poor around us. We can mimik that someone who took in a family far from home and who provided them a lowly stable for shelter just in time to birth a baby ” who was laid in a manger…” How best to begin this Christmas season by remembering someone close to your church door in need of basic subsistence. Be the only Jesus they will ever see.  Remember: Jesus had more to say about helping the poor than He ever did about abortion or homosexuality. If these later are important, than helping those in need is much much more important. Think about it.