The Bible on Our Obligation to the Poor, Week 5

South Congregational Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Where I saw my sister and brother baptized, was taught how to read the Bible and sing in a choir, and learned that it's not a good thing to walk into a church and exclaim, "It's raining like HELL out there."  

It's already week five of Lent. One more week to go, and then we're into Holy week. And I have not yet run out of scripture verses that exhort us to serve the poor. This week's round-up:

1 John 3:17. But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

Mt. 6:2-4. "When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you."

Prov. 14:31. He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.

Luke 6:11: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Luke 7:36: Be compassionate, as your Father is compassionate.

I only posted five verses this week, because one day I posted a timely -- for my Lenten project -- Huffington Post interview with Jimmy Carter. 

What particularly struck me was his statement: "The example that I set in my private life is to emulate what Christ did as he faced people who were despised like the lepers or the Samaritans. He reached out to them, he reached out to poor people, he reached out to people that were not Jews and treated them equally. The more despised and the more in need they were, the more he emphasized that we should go to and share with them our talent our ability, our wealth, our influence. Those are the things that guide my life..."


I heard a sermon once where everyone finds one message in the Bible that resonates with them, and they then interpret the rest of the Bible through that lens. I am an agnostic, but raised in a Protestant tradition, with 14 years or so of Sunday school under my belt, and the story of the widow with her two mites really struck a chord with me. I clearly remember reading  that story and learning its meaning. 


Since that day, I have viewed the teachings of Jesus -- who I don't doubt existed -- I'm just not so into the whole he was raised from the dead thing -- as the instruction manual in how to live a compassionate life. In my liberal-leaning church, I wasn't raised to nor do I now see religion as a means to the afterlife, but as a way to live in the here and now. And in the here and now the value system I carry with me is one in which we reach out to the poor and the despised, and do what we can to lessen the hardships in their lives. This I believe.


Amen.