Having seen the world in its ugliest
states, with garbage floating down rivers in third world countries, people
living tough lives in the streets of NYC and everywhere else, poverty and drugs
running rampant in lonely towns all over the United States, I question what my
place is in helping people in these and similar situations. The Bible is clear
when it tells us to love people and how to love them:
Matthew 7:12 is
what many people know as the Golden Rule. Jesus says, “So whatever you wish
that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the
Prophets.”
In Matthew 22:
36-40, Jesus gets interrogated by a lawyer and responds accordingly: “And one
of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the
great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This
is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love
your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the
Prophets.”
In John 13:35,
Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you love
one another.”
Again in John
15:12-13 Jesus is clear on what the greatest love looks like: “My command is
this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this:
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I
command.”
With these in mind, Jesus teaches in
the negative, that how you want to be treated, that is how you should treat
others; He teaches in the positive, that you shall love your neighbors as
yourself; He teaches that people will know you as a Christian by how you love
one another; and that the greatest love is to lay down your life for your
friends.
So how should we handle pan handlers? Should we give
everything we have to them? Should we run ourselves dry of resources in order
to “love your neighbor as yourself?” I think that the thing we need to
understand is the question, "Would it be loving to do so?" If we run our
resources dry by helping someone else out, and when we are out of resources and
can no longer help but are in the same boat as the person who ran our resources
dry. Then how can we love them? Is it loving to enable people
to continue in their panhandling or parasitic state? The answer is that this is
not how Jesus is defining love.
Jesus is telling us to lay down our
lives for our friends, and He tells us to treat others like we want to be
treated. This in fact, it is the opposite of entitlement. The question is,
would you want someone to buy you everything? You would never have to work
again and everyone would buy you what you want and need. I would never want
this, personally. I would feel like I had no meaning in life. I would never
feel a healthy pride that one has after they worked hard for something. I
understand that a person who is homeless or in poverty does not have the
mentality that they want someone to buy them everything they want. But when I
used to visit the homeless under the bridge in the city of tents in Harrisburg,
PA, I asked them as a group how they are living and one of them said that “We
are doing well… we have everything we need and it is like permanent camping and
we like it.” But the reason they like it is because they are delusional, and they believe that they
are doing it on their own, but the reality is that everything they have was
given to them. They were living in garbage. Their tents were full of trash and
some of them didn’t wear appropriate clothing. What blew my mind was that several of them
had eye-glasses. I used to take them bananas and water nearly every weekend and
they thanked me for them. Yet they believed that they were providing for
themselves. “We’re doing it!” They would say with smiles on their faces.
It seems to me that this must be a
noble lie (to borrow the phrase from
Dr. William Lane Craig’s outstanding book, Reasonable
Faith), because nearly anyone’s conscious would not allow them to believe
and know that they are a parasite. Therefore they must create in their minds the
idea that they are not a parasite, but simply live a different life. It is delusion
in all its glory. People need to know that they have value, even if it is made
up.
Jesus defines love by serving, and
serving that kills us would be the greatest love. He does not define love by
giving random handouts. For one thing, He
was never a burden to anyone else, even during His three year ministry. Before
this ministry, He was a carpenter (hard laborious work), and was likely middle
class for the time period, contrary to popular, uneducated beliefs. He knew the
value of work and the healthy pride that it brings. He knew the truth of
Ecclesiastes 5:12, “The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or
much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.” He knew the
proverbs of Solomon: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be
wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions
in summer and gathers its food at harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8). We don’t read
about Him over-spending. We don’t read about Him being careless with His
finances, and we don’t read about Him asking people for money, which was
definitely available at the time. Even when it was time for Him and Peter to
pay taxes, he did not get it from another person (Matthew 17:27). Jesus simply
did not burden people with guilt by asking for handouts. He gave the greatest
example of love by His acts of service.
I think that in the world today we
define “helping people” by giving them
money, but it seems that this only enables people and hurts them in the long
run. It often seems that the fact that they are in such a situation gives us a sign that they may not be equipped to handle money in the first place.
The apostle Paul has
something important to say on this subject as well…
In Galatians 6:1-10, Paul explains
to his Christian brothers, that they are to hold Christians above everyone else:
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any
transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of
gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's
burdens [of weakness], and so fulfill
the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he
deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to
boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to
bear his own load.
Let the one who
is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be
deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For
the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the
one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us
not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give
up. So then, as we have opportunity, let
us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of
faith” (emphasis mine).
Paul says that when we have the
opportunity, we should do good to all people, but then he elevates Christians
above all people and says that they should receive a special treatment. This
aligns perfectly with what Jesus said above, in John 13:35.
The thrust of what I want you to
see, however, is found in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15.
“Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away
from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the
tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to
imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat
anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night
and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do
not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For
even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him
not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at
work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord
Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
As for you,
brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. If
anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and
have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as
an enemy, but warn him as a brother” (emphasis
mine).
The point here is that in the above
Galatians passage, Paul, whose ideas line up perfectly with Christ’s, says that
we should treat our Christian brothers and sisters with special treatment above
everyone else, also teaches that if a brother does not work, then he is not to
eat!
This forces us to ask, “If I am
supposed to withhold feeding a person whom I am supposed to treat exceptionally,
who does not work, then how am I supposed to treat someone who is not a brother
who does not work?!”
This passage seems teaches that
enabling people is harmful, not beneficial to their being. The above passage
teaches that shame is a good thing in this case, because the hope is that it
will bring people to do something to earn their keep! Our society today has it
completely backwards. I understand if someone is mentally handicapped or incapable of working (see James 1:27),
but this is not what I am addressing. This is not what Jesus or Paul was addressing
either. I am specifically addressing panhandlers and those who take advantage of people's emotions and their ability to give.
We have empathy for people today
which can obviously be a good thing but not obviously be a bad thing, and we
think that “I would feel bad if I were in your shameful position, so I will
give you money…” or something along those lines. We might not think it exactly
in those words, but it is close. It seems that the proper response here is that
we are to have sympathy for people in these situations, in that our feelings
about the situation might move us to help them by serving them and bearing
their burdens. But if they are not willing to work, then we should do what the
Word of God says. The problem I find is that people can make up some pretty
convincing excuses not to work, but in almost every circumstance, there is something
that they could be doing.
So how do we help those in these situations? In any case, I think that the
important thing to remember is to not get a hard heart. When someone has the gall
enough to ask you directly for money, it
seems that the appropriate response is to
hear their story, really and truly hear it, listen to everyone without judging them by their appearance, and then make a decision on how to
move forward. This does not always mean that you should help them. Just like
having a Healthy Fear, healthy
shame is good for us as well. We often run from these things but they are often
the exact medicine we need to get back on track.
“You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You
shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the
Law and the Prophets” ~κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
Written by Nace Howell through the
grace of the Lord Jesus
© Nace Howell, 2022
This is a hard teaching in a time when many jump to Matthew 25 to condemn a person who does not give, give give to anyone and everyone. Luke 12:13 - 21 is giving me some perspective:
ReplyDeleteA man shouts to Jesus, "Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!" Jesus responds to the crowd, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness." Jesus then goes on to tell a parable of a rich man who horded and he dies. Jesus ends with, "So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." It seems to me that Jesus is saying both the man who wanted his brother's riches and the man who horded his riches were covetous.
This scripture seems in line with this post. Not everyone who wants your money is truly needy, many are just plain greedy. On the other hand, don't use that as an excuse to horde what you do have and be greedy yourself. Be discerning. I'm trying to learn this. Thanks for this helpful post.
Luke 12 is an awesome passage with the same line of thinking. This is a helpful and encouraging comment. Thank you, "Unknown!" :)
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