Cry of the Poor

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." ~ John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (1917-1963)


Maria waited outside the principal’s office knotting her calloused hands. She knew she would have to tell her the truth, but what would happen then. She had worked so hard to get this far, but now what? Would it all fall apart? She didn’t mind making the tamales, but it was hard work and took a lot of time. Not to mention, it was dangerous being out on the street alone, with money in your pockets. Actually, it was dangerous being out on the street alone period. The door opened and the Principal, Ms. Murphy, came out and greeted her with a big smile. In the Principal’s office Maria nervously explained that she had been lucky enough to find a job working in the garment industry downtown. It paid much better than selling tamales out of her shopping cart and was safer also. She would be making nearly $1,000 a month, but she was afraid her daughter would lose her tuition subsidy as a result...

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The chemo made Esperanza sick to her stomach. She thought after being treated for so long she would be use to it by now. Esperanza was diagnosed with brain cancer when her youngest daughter was born and Marialena was now almost nine. Even with all the treatment the brain cancer had gradually progressed to stage four, without much hope of remission. Esperanza was still able to work five days a week and endure her chemo treatments on Friday, but sometimes, when finances were tight, she would skip treatments and use her copayment money to make ends meet. After all, the treatments didn’t seem to be working anyway. It wasn’t dying which frightened her so much as what would happen to her two daughters when she was gone...

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Stories like these, from a recent annual appeal, make us reach for our wallets and check books. Our heartstrings resonate with sympathy and perhaps pity. We feel guilty for the plight of others and, like the story of the Pharisee praying in the temple, we thank God that we are not like those people. When, in point of fact, “those people” are more like the rest of the world than we are. If you don’t live in the western portion of the northern hemisphere you are probably poor…really poor. Access to clean drinking water, something we accept as a given, is unavailable to the majority of the world’s population. Surprisingly most of us are amongst the 1% of the wealthiest people in the world.

This would seem to suggest we should rise from our comfortable places in life and do something about this abject poverty, perhaps by writing more checks or starting more foundations, food banks and subsidy programs. After all Jesus told us we would be judged by the way in which we treated the poor, the widows, the orphans. But he also seems to imply our efforts will be futile: “the poor will always be with you,” he quips (John12:8). So what’s the use and where’s the point? If we can’t fix the problem why try? If we can’t feel satisfied with ourselves or stop feeling guilty what are we working for?

From a stewardship point of view however, I would suggest the poor are actually a gift to us; a gift to be gratefully received and returned to God with increase. God loved us into existence; we are a product of His joy. Love is wanting the best for another and acting upon it. On the other hand guilt is not one of His creations and so, being motivated by guilt, is not part of His plan. Nor are we called to a self satisfaction since we were lucky enough to have “dodged that bullet” and live in relative comfort. The poor are a gift because they remind us of whom we are and why we were put here in the first place. They provide us with the opportunity to live full and meaningful lives.

Serving the poor, not just making donations to their cause, brings perspective to our lives. Our comforts and possessions can anesthetize us into complacency, so much so, that if and when real tragedy strikes we are helpless to respond. By serving the poor, however, we realize those things we consider wants and needs are in fact luxuries to the point of being unnecessary. Because the poor don’t have possessions to insulate them we find a kind of raw reality within their lives. The poor pull us out of our privileged, possession insulated, power-pursuing lives and remind us that, stripped to the bear necessities, we are just like them.

This is not however, about guilt or grandeur. Serving the poor is not about guilt avoidance, sympathetic satisfaction, or looking good because others have it bad. We can give to the poor out of guilt rather than gratitude. We can give to the poor to feed our egos and our image. But when we truly serve the poor we do so out of the realization that we have earned nothing on our own in this world and everything is a gift from God. This is where our joy resides…by being truly present and fully committed to the world rather than ourselves.

Being stewards of the poor and impoverished is not about being thankful because we are fortunate enough to not be like them. It means being grateful because we are exactly like them…creations of a loving God.

Dear God: Help me to hear the cry of the poor…and come running!

"You don't seem to realize that a poor person who is unhappy is in a better position than a rich person who is unhappy. Because the poor person has hope. He thinks money would help." ~ Jean Kerr, American author and playwright (1922-2003)


© 2010 James E. Carper. All rights reserved.
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