Biblical Justice for the Poor

Isaiah 58:6-7:

“Is not this kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

 

A Relationship Conundrum

Living in a developing world like Indonesia, poverty is still very much in your face. My parents tried their best to safeguard me inside a protective bubble throughout my childhood, away from sufferings and poverty all around. Even though we came from a middle-class family, we didn’t have a lot of opportunities to ‘mingle’ with the poor. We were living in separate tracks.

When I was a little girl, I grew a love for the poor. The sentiment might develop from the books I had read or my little girl’s heart was probably seeking a personal cause. But I was growing a love for something I was very unfamiliar and had minimal interaction with. The poor in my mind was still a vague, mysterious character who deserved opportunity, mercy and pity.

Then I studied in a university overseas and there, in a comfortable setting of a developed world, my friends and I discussed enthusiastically the best plans for poverty alleviation and we cried together for the injustice upon the poor. I was probably still in the phase of ‘romanticizing the poor’.

Right after I came back home to Indonesia, I started to dabble in charity work. I am a grown-up woman now, I no longer have parents to shield and interface for me. I have more direct interactions with the poor and I have had my share of frustrating experiences; of being deceived and disappointed. It is a common understanding that the poor are characterized by irrational behaviors, questionable morals, lacking industry and low self-esteem.

My heart grew callous and contemptuous from my own disappointments and my inability to communicate and understand the poor. I was also overwhelmed in processing all the wickedness done to them and by them. So I decided to close that part of my dream that is too big for me, just focus on my little family and accepted, for now, this is how the broken world works.

Matthew 24:12: Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold…

 

How Jesus Sees the Poor

Recently, I felt the Holy Spirit’s rebuke to my coldness. I came to realize that Jesus was not neutral when He came to earth; He took a side. He identified himself as one of the poor, not the rich class nor the middle class. The first visitors that were invited to his birthplace in Bethlehem were the poor shepherds (Luke 2:8-20). According to Luke 2:22-24, Jesus earthly parents chose to purchase birds for their offering. This indicates that Jesus’ family was poor because they couldn’t afford lamb as the preferred offering (Leviticus 12:6-8). Jesus did not choose to be born as a prince in a kingly family.

Biblical justice is not neutral, it is not objective and dispassionate. On the contrary, the Bible is filled with verses that passionately defending the interests of the poor and condemning the rich. God is very personal in regards to the poor; He is not standing neutral in the middle; He is standing with the poor in their plights.

His identification with them is profound and astounding, the King of the Universe prefers to identify Himself with the lowly and destitute. It evokes a jarring image.

Jesus described the scene from the coming Final Judgment as this (Matthews 25:31-46):

 

The Sheep and the Goats

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

 

Understanding Poverty

I have learned some eye-opening truths about poverty in the past few years:

1. Humility and Identification

I watched this short movie on the internet; it is showing a group of people that were starting a mock-race and there’s one speaker in front of them. The speaker asked a series of questions: if your parents are still married, take two steps forward and take another two steps forward if you have access to private education/private tutors, another two steps forward if you don’t have to worry about paying the bills, etc. People were stepping forward if the statements applied to them, but some people stayed behind.

The questions that were being asked had nothing to do with the things these people in the race had done or the decisions they had made, their life circumstances were out of their control. This mock-race experiment demonstrates that some people are given more opportunities and a head start in life, their accomplishments are not entirely due to their own merits. While some people are left behind in this ‘race of life’ because of things that are beyond their control.

Another smart comic strip illustrates this similar idea.

I realize undoubtedly that all my accomplishments and my status in life are not a product of my own smart, my own hard work and my own decisions, in fact, a big part of it came by the virtue of my birth. Many privileges were already prepared for me through the circumstances of my upbringing.

Poverty is very self-limiting to people’s potential to grow. I imagine how my life would have been if I hadn’t had many advantages; if I didn’t have much hope for the future; if I lived in a constant state of ‘barely enough’. In humility, I have to admit if that happened, I would likely act no better or even worse than my poor neighbors in the area of decision making, work ethics, moral impulses and attitudes in approaching life

I thank God for this revelation; it humbles me deeply and helps to identify and empathize with the poor. I must repent from my disdain and prejudice against the poor.

 

2. The Problem is more Structural than Personal Sins

For the longest time, I always thought that poverty is mainly caused by one’s own personal sins such as lack of self-control, idleness, indulgences, foolishness and unwise decisions.

Yet if we derisively attribute the poor’s problems to the content of their character, it would be a gratuitous conclusion.

In the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-26), Lazarus’ torrid life on earth wasn’t caused by his personal sins, the blame was more towards the ignorance of the rich man. Lazarus wasn’t being cursed or punished by God. The end of Lazarus’ life on earth was not the end of the story. In the end, God considered Lazarus as righteous; God elevated and comforted Lazarus.

I discovered unexpectedly that the cause of poverty is predominantly structural, not personal issues. It is a hugely complex problem.

When I just graduated from college, my friends and I in Texas involved with a charity that worked with the homeless, the ex-convicts and the substance addicts. We volunteered weekly to learn more about their programs. The founder of the charity organization explained to us that the poverty in the inner city was mostly caused by the city officials. They wanted to ‘maintain’ a certain number of poor people in the city for more budget allocation.

Zacchaeus’ story in the Bible also shows how the heavy yokes of economic oppression could come through the government’s corrupt tax collecting system (Luke 19:1-10).

My husband also explained to me how the lacking of access to information and the manipulation of emotion have made the poor to be ideal pawns for the elites to achieve their purposes. The poor are easily abused for political and economic gains.

God hates the person who oppresses and exploits others for financial gain.

Isaiah 10:1-2: Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.

Ezekiel 22:12: In you are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign Lord.

Amos 5:11-12: You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though, you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

 

3. The Campaign for Poverty Alleviation Should not be just a Humanistic Effort. We must Combat the Power of Darkness Deeply Entrenched in the Poor’s Spiritual Realm

It is not hard for a person with an activist bent like me to find a humanistic cause. So many problems on earth that need to be addressed and raised an awareness of.

The destructive mind patterns and habits start from the seeds in people’s own hearts. These seeds are then cultivated by the evil force until their harmful fruits become permanent fixtures in people’s lives (James 1:13-15).

Hopelessness and lacking of wisdom is a fertile soil for the enemy’s work. Many personal strongholds such as addiction, exploitation and oppression have strong grips on people’s souls. Satan is inflaming these damaging desires and ideas in the minds and hearts of the people.

Ephesians 6:12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

If we seek human solutions to problems whose origin is supernatural evil, we will fail because we will not have correctly assessed the strength of the enemy. Education, (economy) and support groups might help to a limited extent, but they are human solutions to spiritual problems.¹

As Christians, we are anointed by the Holy Spirit to fight in this Spiritual warfare against the evil force that corrupt the minds, the hearts and the spirits of the people, not against flesh and blood.

Prayers need to be lifted up. Love and righteousness are exemplified and dispensed abundantly to soften hardened, stubborn hearts. Truth needs to be spoken out because lies are repressive and salvation is liberating.

A hardened heart is caused by the deceitfulness of sins (Hebrews 3:13). When a heart is hardened, people became ignorant of the truth and their understanding is darkened. When the heart is soft and tender, it is more open to confess, repent and receive the truth.

Ephesians 4:18: They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

John 8:32: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

At the core of a life transformation is a spiritual reconciliation between men with God and men with his neighbors. After we are reconciled with God, He will put His spirit inside us. Then the life-giving power of the Spirit empowers us to put off the old ways and put on the new ways. It is foremost a spiritual act.

Ezekiel 36:26: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Isaiah 61:1: The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…

 

4. Living Considerately and Compassionately

It is still a work-in-progress within our family; one life-changing concept our family is wrestling to internalize is: everything belongs to God and not ours, we are merely stewards. If I live excessively and indulgently, then I am not being a good steward. I need to spend the resources entrusted to me on things that matter to the owner. A related article about stewardship.

God wants us to be good stewards with our resources, not focus on relishing life and hoarding wealth but to wisely and faithfully share with others (Matthew 24:45-51). God expects us to help the weak by giving the fruits of our hard work.

Acts 20:35: In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

We are to live considerately and compassionately with our neighbors in mind, especially who are less fortunate. The fewer resources we spend on ourselves, the more can be released and allocated for others.

It should not be just about going for a few mission trips and orphanage visits, but it should affect and guard our lifestyle sensibly. God gives warning to the rich in His book.

James 5:1-5: Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

 Proverbs 3:27: Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.

 1 Timothy 6:17-19: Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

 

True Love Grows in Understanding

My relationship with the poor has been hill and valley. First, I saw them as an object of my love and pity; I created my own delusional image of the poor. Then after some years, my pessimistic view got the best of me, I stereotyped them as a group that can’t be helped.

Now as a homemaker that (still) live somewhat in a bubble, I need to prayerfully ask God’s help to enlarge my capacity to step outside, to humbly identify with the poor, to engage and help both in physical and spiritual realms even in the structural issues if feasible, and to live considerately and compassionately.

True love requires maturity in understanding. I am learning to understand and love the poor as Jesus told me to do, bringing them closer to the true redemptive love of Christ. The poor are not a mass of people, but a person made in the image of God. If I am able to see a person, then loving becomes a personal matter.

Philippians 1:9-11: And this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.

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This article was inspired by Greg Ogden’s thoughts in Discipleship Essentials chapter 18: Justice p. 155-163.

¹Ogden, Greg. Discipleship Essentials. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2007, p. 200.