But there is a haunting, dark side to charity. Even though we keep at it, season after season, poverty seems to continue unabated. Even the charity work that goes on throughout the year does not seem able to stem the tide of America’s poverty.
The cynical minded in our midst notice this fact and tell us we are wasting our time. They remind us that Jesus said, ”The poor will always be with you.” So why are we surprised when they are?
Of course, that is not what Jesus meant. Jesus was actually quoting from the Law of Moses. Moses told his people that since there will always be someone in need, ”Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”
The author at Ethics Daily is talking about seasonal charity and how it makes us feel good to give. Digging through the bible here is what Jesus said in Matthew:
6-9When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper, a woman came up to him as he was eating dinner and anointed him with a bottle of very expensive perfume. When the disciples saw what was happening, they were furious. “That’s criminal! This could have been sold for a lot and the money handed out to the poor.”
10-13When Jesus realized what was going on, he intervened. “Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives, but not me. When she poured this perfume on my body, what she really did was anoint me for burial. You can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she has just done is going to be remembered and admired.”
He intervened for a woman while eating at a lepers house. Gotta love context.
Jesus was referring to what Moses said in Deuteronomy 15 when he was laying down the law on economics:
7-9 When you happen on someone who’s in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that God, your God, is giving you, don’t look the other way pretending you don’t see him. Don’t keep a tight grip on your purse. No. Look at him, open your purse, lend whatever and as much as he needs. Don’t count the cost. Don’t listen to that selfish voice saying, “It’s almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled,” and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. He’ll call God’s attention to you and your blatant sin.
10-11 Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors.
Easier said than done isn’t it? And it’s so much nicer to just use the bible as an excuse not to pursue the deeper thing Jesus and Moses called for.
Biblical prophets called for justice, not charity. Justice is rooted in the belief that God has provided enough for everyone to have what they need. If there are some in the community who do not have what they need, the community at large is expected to rectify the imbalance. The prophets persistently identified the failure to address economic injustice as a serious breach of faith.
Clearly, many of our neighbors do not have what they need. Poverty in our world is massive and systemic. It is the result of political and economic systems. As such, it is not going to yield to charity alone. There are not enough soup kitchens and shelters in the whole country to even begin to make a dent in America’s poverty. A problem of this magnitude calls for ”We the people” to get involved.
Does this mean we should stop doing charity? Certainly not. Charitable acts relieve suffering and offer hope. Charity also renders a prophetic service by allowing us to see people in need. That’s important because sometimes we don’t see the poor. Charity is also a tacit admission that we are responsible for our poor neighbors. In these ways, charity may become a doorway to justice.
We need to be honest with ourselves here. Charity is easier than justice. Charity makes us feel good.It helps relieve some of the guilt we feel about having so much while others have so little.
The Message bible is not THE Bible, it is not a translation of God’s word, good or bad, it is merely a paraphrased (re-worded) version of the Bible. It is not the light unto our path and the lamp unto our feet that we need to light our way home. Only God’s word has power to save us from our sins, for only HIS word is “living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword”…The disciples wouldn’t depart from Jesus because they realized that only HE “has the words of eternal life”. Washing in the water of the words of a mere man will not do anyone a bit of good, it has not the power to transform and renew our minds, and actually it will deceive us while leaving us sitting comfortably in our sins, whereas God’s word is able to confront and deliver us from our sins. Coming to Jesus means coming to HIS word as well, for He is the Word made flesh (John 1:14).
Why did ancient scribes find it worth their while to labour so hard to accurately reproduce every jot and tittle of the books of the Bible so that we could read and study as accurate a translation as possible today? Imagine if down through the ages, all these different men had paraphrased the scriptures according to how it suited each individual – we would be in possession today of many differing and contradictory works of fiction instead of God’s holy and living word. The word of God ought to be cherished and guarded like the priceless treasure that it is, since it has very real spiritual power to reveal the Living God and affect people’s eternal destinies. (David was a man after God’s own heart because His love for the Lord caused him to treasure His word as we can see in Psalm 119 and elsewhere.)
This is a blog Therese with a very diverse readership.
Yes, I used a paraphrase. On purpose.
Does The Message water down what the Ethics Daily writer is trying to say?
Does it misinterpret Matthew and Deuteronomy?
Does it minimize my responsibility as a follower of Jesus Christ to seek justice?
Does it negate my conviction?
If you have a problem with interpretation of the passage feel free to say so.
Open up the discussion.
What do you think the Ethics Daily writer was trying to say?
There is a little snare in serving the poor, and that is that it is apt to make us feel self-righteous and forget that we need a Saviour – UNLESS it is done truly out of devotion to Christ. I think this was the point Jesus was making in his statement to his fellow diners. Honour Him first – our devotion is to HIM not to those in need who will always be with us anyway. Our goal should not be to eradicate poverty as many are trying to do, our aim as Christians is to serve God, thereby letting the light of Who He Is shine through us.
Human thinking is always at odds with God’s will – our minds are at enmity with God. Jesus was affirming that Mary was doing the will of God in spite of appearances to the contrary, and in spite of what human thinking thought was logical. On the other hand, we also need to be prepared to make giving/helping a ‘lifestyle’ BECAUSE there will always be those in need. One thing He has spoken, two things have I heard. But He doesn’t give us revelation of another’s word, only HIS. He is not after mental assent, He is after transformation from the inside, which only HIS word has power to do.
Jesus was always opening up and revealing the spiritual side of the law – that the law is subject to the Spirit, subject to the Author of it – the religious Jews of that day had long ago lost revelation of the law and were serving the letter of the law instead of God Himself. But David, the man after God’s own heart understood – David was being led by the Spirit when he we went into the temple and ate the shewbread – an absolute sacriledge according to the written law, yet he was doing the will of God in that circumstance, and later commended by Jesus, the Living Word.
I remember the story of the cripple who sat by the pool of Bethesda for many years – people were healed when the angel stirred the water in that particular pool. Likewise we are healed and cleansed of sin by the washing of the water of God’s word, when it is stirred, quickened, by the Holy Spirit. But only the water of HIS word, when we immerse ourselves in it. There was no angel stirring the water at any other pool. And yes, HIS word is for the diverse mulititude, and able to heal and cleanse any of the diverse problems that afflict mankind.
Whether the Message misinterprets or not, I would say that it is simply irrrelevant to Christianity, it is only the word of an ordinary man. But the fact that it is even called a bible means that it is with tragic consequences, replacing the word of God in many people’s lives.
When you have come to the end of ‘your human giving’ only then can you take on his and the deep discernment that goes with it. Not all are ready to receive and is it his will that we ‘force them’ when to us the circumstances they appear to be in seem dire. He knows every heart and mind action and thought and when someone truly needs us we have to be open to receive his word and theirs and also voice ours, that way we all are served and gifted. Yes if we are to see the end of poverty not only is a greater justice required but a greater discernment to carry it out. When you have witnessed the one who hoards and smiles at the one who needs then you witness hells determination to reap hope and deny life, when you witness him give you witness unspeakable grief, unspeakable sorrow, unspeakable pain but also unspeakable passion, love, forgiveness and hope that as he lifts us out of the enemys grip and into his ‘we are another one on the way to recovery from the lies and destruction that the enemy had in store for us. Greed kills, but also in the end the one who gifts it, for their life holds fast to theirs and to win his, first you hand over yours. When you witness the unconditional of him never would you be able to see another starve, be it for a word, a meal, or a smile because you would know how much it hurts him when you do, yet with those who deny you will he also weep for they too are in desparate need. When we draw close to him whether to give or not becomes his, we, just the ‘hands’ that deliver for him his gift.
I was a hoarder. I hoarded hopes. I had collected over the years all sorts of projects that ‘one day’ I was going to bring to fruition. Sewing projects headed the list along with recipes I was going to make and decorating styles I was going to put into action and delight eveyone with. One day as I brought them out of the cupboard yet again to ‘dream’ over I heard him say, theres the next ten years of your life right there in your hands, oops wake up call ! he was right yet again. Over the next two years that great pile of things I was going to do gradually and with his grace ended up in the bin. It was tough there were some lovely things that had already found a place in my heart and home and vision but he didn’t ‘cold turkey’ me he took me through that quagmire slowly and caringly and with passion and with his great hope for me and mine. When his message had finally been completed he took me to a new place of ‘hope’ with a new passion and showed me not a new future but a new me. He knew where I was going was to hurt and so he stepped in, took me through, and brought me out the other end re-designed and ready for his action (s) not mine. I have to admit there were times when I protested loudly and longingly but his will won in the end, so is it with what we see around us that hurts and denies us hope, his will will overcome that great lie we have been given of fear and wanting and worrying we just have to know he cares and that he hears us, ‘in the meantime’. I still hope, ( they just needed to be more in line with his.
As long as I live on this earth, I will never fully understand what the issue is with the Message translation of the Bible. I respect people’s opinions, but I really strain to understand the issue.
Which version then, is the real “one true” translation of the Bible? Bene, I appreciate you using the Message version. I didn’t miss the forest for the trees and those verses hit home. Thank you.