Deuteronomy: Poverty

It's a cultural buzz these days to focus on the elimination of poverty. Since I am at a Christian based university, my students call it the "Christian thing to do". To be honest, it probably originates from both cultural and Christian sources for them. If you think of the major issues being addressed in Christian circles today, it seems that they are the same issues of culture - LGBT community, gender equality, environmental concerns. That's not a bad thing - a Christianity that does not connect with culture is not reflecting the values of Christ - though hopefully its not the only source of motivation for Christians.

Which brings me back to poverty in the Torah. I find Deuteronomy to be insightful. In one chapter, the text makes these three statements.
15:4  However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you . . .
15:7 If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites . . .
15:11 There will always be poor people in the land. 

Some might read these as contradictory but I think there is more to it. The entire Torah is written to reveal God to us. If we begin with that concept in mind, then what the text is telling us is that the Father will supply his people with enough resources so that everyone will have plenty. He is generous and calls us to be the same. However, being fallen humans, we tend to be selfish not self-less. We accumulate resources for the good of self rather than administrate them for the good of others. Therefore, poverty will always be present not due to a lack of resources but due to the fallen nature of those of us who administrate the resources.

So it seems to me that we can continue LBJ's "war on poverty" at many different levels; but if the human heart is not addressed, all other corrections are doomed to fail.
 

John 1:1-18; Unrecognizable Jesus

John says that Jesus came to that which was his own but was unrecognized by some and unreceived by others. Ending Acts a couple of days ago, I was thinking about this exact idea. What would it look like if Jesus / God intervened in my world today? Would I recognize him? Would I accept him? Would I like him?

Culture packages our spirituality. I think that is why it is often hard to recognize the hand of God in others. God came as a Jewish laborer. No trumpets, no CNN reporters, no Academy Awards; just a simple man in a Semitic culture sweating in his robe and sandals. Since that didn't fit a lot of people's expectations, he was mostly unrecognized and unreceived.

What if God came in flesh to Abilene today? Maybe he would be the homeless guy with a "will work for food sign" at the intersection. Maybe he would be the WalMart greeter (somehow I think Jesus would like that job). May he would be a sophomore business student. More than pondering options, I think I'm challenging my own bias. Do I take the time and make the effort to look past a person's job and social status to really see the spiritual being inside? Do I think more highly of the mayor than the janitor because of their positions or do I see them both as made in the image of God? Surely it was respecting position and foregone conclusions about what the Messiah would look like that messed everything up in the first century. I wonder how much it is still messing up my life?

I was once with a friend that introduced me to the mayor of the capital city, then turned and introduced me to the top news anchor and then turned and called the waiter by his first name. On the way out of the building, he asked the parking lot attendant how her mother was doing since her recent illness. I was amazed. He treated everyone the same, perhaps giving more time to the parking lot attendant than either the mayor or newsman. He saw beyond culture and jobs to the soul of the person. I want to be that guy, the one who can see the creation of God in everyone. Maybe then Jesus won't sneak by me unrecognized or unappreciated.

Luke 17:1-10; Rebuke, Forgive, Stay Humble

There is so much content in these few verses. In a society that tends towards tolerance and pursues pluralism, rebuking someone for an error is unheard of. Yet, it is a command. Just as much as loving a neighbor is a command, just as much as loving God is a command, so also is rebuking a brother a command. It is not cultural but it is Christian.

The next line is the command to forgive someone when they err. Rebuking and forgiveness go hand in hand. Rebuking is not done from a position of power but from a position of love, seeking the best for the other who is in error. Forgiveness flows from the same heart.

When it is all said and done, to have corrected another or forgiven them one hundred times means absolutely nothing about my spirituality. I means I am doing what God expects of me. It means I am being like him. It means I should not be held up, glorified or proud of myself. I am simply being what I was created to be.

Rebuke, forgive, stay humble. Three commands to live counter-culturally.

favor and grace

Luke 1 makes two references to the favor of God and the grace of God. One is a proclamation by the angels of peace on earth to men "on whom his favor rests" and the other is that Jesus was filled with wisdom and the "grace of God was upon him."

Sounds like a easy life and all that makes the nativity story sweet . . . until you look at the context. Jesus was in a cave lying in a feed trough before the first statement. His parents were on the way to Jerusalem to offer the Jewish sacrifice for the birth of the firstborn prior to the second. The text clearly says they were to offer a pair of doves or pigeons; that is the sacrifice of the poor according to Leviticus 12. The rich offered a lamb. So favor and grace resting on someone doesn't mean anything about socio-economics. In this case, favor and grace were upon a kid born into such poverty that they had no home, no proper clothes for him and could only offer the poorest of sacrifices.

So what does favor and grace mean to me? Am I so North American that I have come to believe that the American dream is God's grace to me? Am I so materialistic that I think that divine favor means middle class riches? Is it possible for me to view the world through God's perspective and not look at wealth as a measure of anything spiritual?

Grace and favor . . . I don't think they look like what we think they do.