This past Sunday I was blessed with a wonderful sermon on the Christian responsibility to address the needs of the poor. The text was the classic statement by Jesus in Matthew 25 framed around the brief parable of the shepherd separating the sheep from the goats. We have the task of showing the kind of love God has for us to those around us regardless of how they came to be in their current circumstances or how much they may deserve to be in their current circumstances based on our codes.
I never read that text without asking myself how much can I spare. Then I am reminded of the widow in the temple giving her two small copper coins, her entire bank account. Those two coins joined the bags of silver being donated by the wealthy to go eventually to places unknown. The widow didn't question that. She simply gave what she had.
How much can I spare? I love the passage in Ephesians 4:28, "Let the thief no longer steal, rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so he may be able to give to those in need." (RSV) How much clearer can it be that the question should never be how much can I spare but rather how much do I personally need in light of the needs around me?
The story has come to me of a preacher early in the last century who said, "Make all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can." In a world that is filled with poverty on anyone's standards, we should be about the business of work, not to raise our own standard of living, but to raise the standard for others, to give all we can. For so many that higher standard would mean simply having one decent meal a day, being able to get a clean drink of water, having a roof over their head, or being spared the brutality of people around them.
Paul's directive was simple. Work so you can help others. No one of us can end world poverty. The process can begin, however, by just one of us helping one other person to be better off than they were. That's reason enough to work and try to make all the money you can, legally of course. Bear one another's burdens. Fulfill the law of love. I am my brother's keeper.
