Previous Post – Neil Cole on Leadership

It started with a tweet: “When God said that ‘there should be no poor among you’, He wasn’t suggesting segregation”.  I must admit that, when I wrote this, I was not trying to be clever.  In all honesty, I was upset.  Upset with the disparity of wealth and privilege in the church.  Upset with how easily we ignore the clear mandates of God on how His people are to live and love.  I was upset with myself for being guilty on all counts.

The quote, of course, is referring to Deuteronomy 15:4 and the mandates of Jubilee, a critical image of the Kingdom life we are called live out in the world in anticipation of it coming in its fullness with Christ.  It was a vision that informed the early church as they sought to live out the teachings and example of Jesus as a community.  It sparked a movement of hospitality, service and peace that has left a powerful impact on human history.  Roman Emperor Julian, a sworn enemy of the faith, noted that the Christian community thrived because of their deep character, selfless service and peaceful nature.  Above all, he marveled that they not only cared for their own sick and poor, but all the sick and poor who were in need.  This was the mark of Christianity, the mark of Christ.

When the disciples expressed concern at the waste of the expensive perfume used to anoint Him, Jesus rebuked them, saying: “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me”.  Too often this verse is used to downplay the mandate for Christians to better respond to the realities of poverty.  However, as suggested by Shane Claiborne, I believe that Jesus was in fact affirming the act of worship while at the same time clearly declaring that the poor would always be with us.  Not in some broad, generalized way, but presently, relationally, actively with us in our communities.  It was assumed that we would be living in such a way that the poor would be around.

We cannot argue that there are few poor in our neighbourhoods.  In an age where most Christians in North America commute some distance for weekly worship, there should then be no barrier to make the journey to the margins.  And if that is too much to ask, then perhaps we must learn to give up the comfort and safety of our neighbourhoods- and yes, I am thinking of the children- and choose to live in places where our lives can cross paths with those others.  We have no excuses other than our choices.  So why do we so explicitly choose to disobey such clear commands of Christ?

Tomorrow I fly to Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world.  I know that what I will see will be a prophetic rebuke to my own compromises.  I hope and pray that, in addition to seeing my responsibility to all people around the world, that I increasingly seek to be among the poor in own community.  I need them, perhaps more than they need me.

“The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in the wardrobe is the garment of the one who is naked; the shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.” – St. Basil the Great