Second Chances for
the Poor
I’m taking a graduate course called Urban Ministry this
semester, and we’re reading several books about poverty. What causes poverty. What helps poverty. What doesn’t help poverty. It’s been interesting and challenging
already, and I’m still in the midst of the reading, brainstorming in many
directions.
There are several reasons this study is so intriguing to
me. First, trying to decide what truly
helps the needy is by far my biggest frustration in ministry so far. People ask churches for help all the time,
and we all struggle with wanting to help people, but at the same time not
wanting to build ‘dependence’ in people or help someone who is simply scamming
churches to make a living. We’re all
looking for a better way forward, and we’ve been asking those difficult “how
best to help” questions for awhile at Great Oaks, hopefully with some slow
progress.
Second, this is an issue we must get better at here at Great
Oaks, because we are in Memphis, the most impoverished large city in America. Like all churches in big
cities, we don’t have to travel to a third-world country to find people who
need help – we can find many of them in just a short drive.
Third, following Jesus demands that we show God’s love
through helping those around us.
Galatians 6:10 says, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good
to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the
faith.” So as Christians, our first
responsibility is helping our fellow Christians in need, but we should also
strive to do good to everyone we can.
What Is My Attitude?
Well, I’ll keep wrestling with the “how best to do it”
question, both in our ministry at Great Oaks and probably on this blog as
well. But one good starting point comes
from simply examining our attitude toward the poor.
Our attitude toward the poor is often a fair question, since
most of us consider ourselves a country in which we earn according to what we
“deserve,” in a free market system. And
so we are tempted to refuse help – or even refuse pity – for the poor, because
many times their poverty is the result of bad decisions they have made in their
lives. Whereas others, maybe us, haven’t
made those decisions, so to some people it doesn’t seem ‘fair’ to help those
who made bad life decisions.
So here’s the question for today: should I want to help
someone who is poor even if their poverty is “their fault?”
God’s Law and the
Poor
In Michael Landon’s book Sweating
it Out, he gives an overview of the causes of poverty and some biblical
thoughts. His chapter on Old Testament
teachings of poverty prints this list of some ways the Law of Moses was tilted
to help the poor (page 133):
1.
A zero-interest loan will be available, and if
the principal has not been repaid by the end of six years the balance will be
forgiven (Ex. 22:25; Lev. 25:35-38; Dt. 15:1-11);
2.
Israelites committed to slavery for
debt-repayment are to be released at the end of six years (assuming the debt
has not been fully repaid before then, so that release comes sooner – Lev.
25:47-53) (Ex. 25:1-11, Lev. 25:39-43, Dt. 15:12-18);
3.
An Israelite forced to sell his land for
debt-repayment, if the debt has not been repaid by the end of forty-eight
years, will have the balance of the debt forgiven and the land returned, to him
or his successors (Lev. 25:8-34);
4.
Each field is to be left fallow every seventh
year with the natural growth available for the poor (Ex. 23:10-11; Lev.
25:1-7);
5.
The gleanings and corners of fields are to be
left for the poor, and especially the widows, orphans, and sojourners (Lev.
19:9-10, 23:22, Dt. 24:19-21);
6.
The third-year tithe will be available for the
widows, orphans, and sojourners, in addition to the Levites (Dt. 14:28-29,
26:12).
These economic laws God put in place for the Israelites
under the Law of Moses were an incredible balance between the poor bearing the
consequences of their actions, and yet never being put in a position of having
no hope.
For example, let’s say you lived under the Law of Moses and
you acted with an incredible lack of responsibility, and gambled away your
entire fortune, including even the land you inherited from your parents. Let’s say you owed so much that your fortune
and land couldn’t even pay the full amount that was due. Well, you would likely have to become a
full-time servant of whoever you owed money to, which would cripple you
financially but would still allow you to have enough to live. That, of course, would also hurt your
family. And if that happened today,
putting your family into a life of servitude would probably begin a
generational cycle that hindered even your children and grandchildren from
prospering. Not much hope, for you or
your family.
But under the Law of Moses, there was grace. After seven years, you would be released from
the servitude. And the one you served
was required to give to you generously when you were done from their flock and
threshing floor and wine vat (Dt. 15:14).
Gleanings from fields would always be available to whoever would gather
them, as would a zero-interest loan if it was needed to help. And on top of that, God expected his people
to give to the poor, so those charity gifts would be available. And then, every fifty years, the land that was
lost (or gambled away frivolously, in our example) would be returned to each
family, assuring that at some point the family at least would have a fresh
start in spite of my bad decisions.
It’s an amazing set up of grace. I knew that the Old Testament had laws to
help the poor, but I don’t know if I ever considered just how much those laws
gave “second chances” and “fresh starts” to those who may have made bad
decisions. As Landon puts it, for
somewhere between 7 and 49 years, “individuals and families had to bear the
economic consequences of their own actions and those of their ancestors,” but
after that period of time, “the cycle of poverty was broken regularly” through
those Sabbath years (every 7th year) and Jubilee years (every 50th
year). Even if your own decisions landed
you in poverty, God provided you or your family a second chance, eventually.
What Does it Mean For
Us?
I know we aren’t under the Law of Moses today. And I know our laws do not allow for the
return of land or forgiving of debts every so often. But surely these laws show us that God
believes in second chances for the poor, even if their poverty is “their
fault.”
And if that’s God’s attitude toward it, that settles it for
me. No, I don’t want to help the poor in
a way that will produce a dependence and inability to take care of
themselves. And no, I don’t want to help
those who are simply lying and scamming churches. But neither do I want to deny someone help
just because their poverty came from their own life decision. Whether it’s their fault is simply not the
issue.
So as we wrestle with trying to best help the poor, let’s
keep God’s “second chance” mentality in the back of our minds. We can’t undo past decisions that may have
contributed to poverty: we can’t go into the past and remove an unfinished
education, or remove a life of drug abuse, or keep them from having children at
a young age out of wedlock, or keep them from committing a crime that stays on
their record. But surely we can find
ways to help give second chances for life success in spite of those past bad
decisions.
Still, many people won’t accept the second chance
opportunities, I know that. And I know
the issues of who to help and how are very complex. But while finding the right answers may be
difficult, finding the right attitude shouldn’t be: God believes in second
chances for the poor.
So for now, that’s a good starting place for Christians in
regard to the poor. Let us hope for and
pursue second chances for the poor, just the way God does. After all, if Christians believe in anything,
surely we believe in the wonderfully amazing grace that is found in second
chances.
This is an awsome read!
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