Sunday Praise & Worship 10:00
Christian Education - 10:00 - Casual Dress - Loving Childcare
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Key Verse: Mark 14:7-8 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But I will not be here with you much longer. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. What a strange thing for Jesus to say. Was it a challenge? Was he being sarcastic? Or was he stating a fact of human existence—sanctioning poverty as part of God’s plan for creation? How you read this oft-quoted passage will strengthen or challenge your understanding of Christ’s calling to all persons of means with respect to their treatment of those who are poor. Before we dive in to the Word of God, you might be puzzled that this topic finds its way into a list of controversies in the church. Early Jewish thought saw God’s blessings in earthly wealth and poverty as a form of divine punishment (see the Book of Job). But a substantial portion of Scripture, culminating in the life of Jesus Christ, challenges this view by placing an obligation on those who are rich in earthly possessions to provide generously for the poor. Poverty and Giving may be the one “silent” controversy in a church that struggles with what some theologians call God’s “preference” for the poor. Financial teacher Howard Dayton has counted 2,350 verses (7.5%) that deal with money (twice as many as verses about faith and prayer, and more than verses about heaven and hell combined). According to Luke, Jesus relied on a group of women to finance his ministry (Luke 8:1-3), did not carry money (Mark 12:15 and Matt. 17:27) own or rent a home (Luke 9:58), and had to be buried in a borrowed grave. In Matthew 25:31ff, Jesus boiled down the judgment to a matter of charity, and on one occasion taught that giving away all your possessions to the poor was a requirement for entry into heaven (Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22). After his death and resurrection, the Book of Acts records the early church established an order of Deacons in order to distribute gifts to widows (Acts 6:1-6), and gave away everything they had so that no one among them had any need (Acts 2:44-45). In fact, few if any bodies of believers have ever come close to this Scriptural ideal. Leviticus 25 established a Year of Jubilee every 50 years, when all property would revert to its original owner. So far as we know, this practice was never actually observed. To be sure, Christians typically give to the poor and respond to those displaced by natural disasters, but of the many Scriptural teachings on stewardship and charity, the one with which we are most familiar is Jesus’ statement that seems to suggest that nothing we do will ever make a difference. One way to understand how Jesus wanted us to receive this teaching is to meditate on the passage from Deuteronomy 15 that he seems to have in mind in the story from Mark 14. The first 18 verses of Deuteronomy establish a Sabbatic Year when all debts are forgiven and slaves set free every seven years. Verses 4-5 read: “However, there shall be no poor among you, since the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, 5 if only you listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.” Note the conditional: if only you listen and obey. After warning the Israelites not to be hard-hearted about the coming of the Sabbath Year, God tells them in verse 11: "For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.” According to John’s version of this story, in John 12:6, Jesus also knew of Judas’ hard-heartedness—that the intended to steal the proceeds from the sale of the woman’s costly anointing rather than to give it to the poor. Certainly with this kind of attitude, there will always be poor in the land. Questions for Reflection 1. Read this passage in Mark (14:3-9) and in John (12:1-8). I have mentioned one key difference between the two versions. Can you identify other similarities and differences? What do the parts John added or left out (his version was written much later than Mark’s) tell you about what John wanted to communicate? Now read Mark’s version again and meditate on the word or phrase that stands out to you (this can be a way of the Holy Spirit’s guidance). 2. Now read over Matthew 25:31-46 (Jesus tells this parable just before the story of the woman’s anointing in Matt. 26:6-13). In light of this parable, how can you demonstrate your devotion to Jesus in a way that does not “compete” with your compassion for the poor? 3. What is one step you could take this week toward helping the poor? For Next Week: Please read Romans 1:20-31 as we focus on “Homosexuality: Sex, Babies and Shame” (key verse is 1:25). |
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