WWJD By Dr. Richard Youngblood
Question: Didn’t Jesus say, “You will always have the
poor among you”? If so, why should we be
so greatly concerned about the plight of the needy?
When a woman anointed the head of Jesus with an
expensive perfume, some of his disciples criticized her saying: “Why
this waste of perfume? It could have
been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor” (Mark 14:4-5). In response, Jesus said: “Why are you
bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and
you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me” (Mark 14:6-7).
Some people have taken this statement from Jesus as an excuse for
indifference toward the poor, but Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament book
of Deuteronomy.
In Deuteronomy
15:4-5 Moses explained to Israel that “there should be no poor 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.” By properly using
God’s generous and rich blessings, his people would always have a way to meet
the needs of any who face impoverishing situations in life; but they must obey
the Lord’s command to “not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor
brother. Rather be openhanded and freely
lend him whatever he needs” (Deut. 15:7-8).
However,
the statement that there “should be no poor among you” (Deut. 15:4), did not
eliminate the problems that create poverty.
Thus, a few verses later Moses said, “There will always be poor people
in the land. Therefore I command you to
be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land”
(Deut. 15:11).
A
survey of the Bible demonstrates that nothing is of greater importance to God
than compassion for the poor, the alien, widows and orphans. Numerous provisions were made in God’s law to
protect the needy. For example, fields
were not to be so thoroughly harvested so that the poor could glean the
leftovers (Leviticus 19:9-10); and a poor man should be paid his wages before
sunset (Deut. 24:14-15). Repeatedly, the
Proverbs give warnings like the following: “He who oppresses the poor shows
contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God” (Proverbs 14:31). The prophets loudly called for justice toward
the poor and the disenfranchised people in the land. When Jesus began his ministry, he quoted from
the prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he
has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the
oppressed” (Luke 4:18; cf. Isaiah 61:1).
The writer of the book of James added
that “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is
this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself
from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27).
Anyone who is not deeply
concerned about the plight of the poor does not understand the heart of
God. The apostle John said: “If anyone
has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him,
how can the love of God be in him?” (1
John 3:17) Since God has generously
offered his grace to all of us, may we freely receive and freely give grace and
compassion to others.
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