Deep Compassion for the Poor

Good News for the Poor

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 

- Jesus Christ 

How do we feel toward people we would label as poor? I am not asking do we give to the poor or whether or not we have ever dropped a quarter into someone's metal coffee cup. I am not wondering whether or not we have purchased a Big Mac for someone who told us they needed money for food. How do we feel towards them? What emotion rises up within us as we encounter the beggar outside Wrigley Field, when we have just spent several hundred dollars to watch millionaires compete in a sport? If we are honest, we often feel a strange mixture of fear, judgment, and disdain. To be a bit more specific, we sometimes feel thankful - thankful that "we are not like such men" (See Luke 18.11). These feelings reveal that we still have parts of us that need to be transformed by the Gospel. When we are being transformed by the Gospel, we will begin to notice the Spirit of God working within us a deep compassion toward all people, especially the poor. Jesus himself reveals God's heart of deep compassion for the poor. In fact, Jesus' entire message can be summarized in the text he chose for his first sermon - a text he proclaimed was being fulfilled through him.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4.18–19, NIV)

How can we follow Jesus in proclaiming a message and embodying a lifestyle that is "good news to the poor?"

Remember that in the most important sense each of us is poor.

In 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul is exhorting his readers to show generosity to the church in Jerusalem. Before he makes his request, Paul leverages the Gospel so the Corinthians will be generous to the poor. 

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:8–9, NIV)

Instead of resorting to guilt (Look at all the food you have and let me show you a picture of a hungry little boy from Jerusalem.), Paul leans heavily on the Gospel. Jesus, who in the most important sense was "rich," set those pleasures aside that he might come to us in our poverty to raise us up with him to enjoy the utmost pleasure, communion with the Triune God. So we can find compassion toward the poor when we remember our impoverished state were it not for Jesus.

Fellowship with those in need. 

In Philippians 4, Paul is joyfully thanking his readers for the generosity they have shown him through the gifts sent to him through Epaphroditus. 

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only. (Philippians 4:14–15, NIV)

When Paul says it was good of the Philippians to "share in his troubles," he uses the word koinonia; a word we normally translate fellowship, deep communion, or even, kinship. Many of the friendships we developed in Seminary were some of the most significant we have ever known. I am convinced the quality of our connection with those people was due to the fact that we were all struggling together toward the same goal. Likewise, the Philippians were so committed to partnering with Paul for the spread of the Gospel, that they were willing to enter into suffering with Paul, if it meant relief for him that enabled him to spread the Good News of Jesus around the Mediterranean world. While there is nothing wrong with many of the ways we share resources with the poor (relief funds like the Salvation Army, Compassion International, and Operation Christmas Child), Paul is calling us here to a kinship with the poor. He describes a willingness to give to the point of suffering, so that the poor's burden can be relieved, and the Gospel can be proclaimed.

Worship Jesus who always showed compassion to the poor.

Finally, because we become like the God we worship, we must remember that King Jesus always showed compassion to the poor. In the writings of Luke, Jesus and the Church always have a compassionate posture toward beggars. In Luke 16.19-31 Jesus tells the story of a rich man and a beggar named, Lazarus. Of the many things this parable teaches, one of the most important is that when the reign of Jesus finally comes in its fullness, the wealthy who abused the poor in this life will be judged. Furthermore, the poor will finally enjoy the healing this world never provided. What's more in Luke 18.35-43 Jesus encounters a blind beggar. Notice that Jesus doesn't try to get the man to leave him alone - something we all have done along as did Jesus' disciples. Instead, Jesus has the man brought to him, and after a conversation, Jesus, full of mercy, heals the man. Furthermore, the early church continued to approach the poor with the same merciful heart of Jesus. See Acts 3. 

Jesus is calling the church to proclaim and embody a message that is good news to the poor. Paul wrote to the Galatians: "All they asked was that we continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do" (Galatians 2.10, NIV). Are we eager to remember the poor? If we remember the poor, we will encounter the presence of Jesus. Did Jesus not say that when we show compassion to the least of these, his brothers and sisters, we are showing compassion to him (Matthew 25.31-46)? Speaking of Jesus' parable of the sheep and goats, we conclude with a compelling commentary from Gary Anderson in his book, Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition.  

If almsgiving funds a heavenly treasury, then the hand of the poor provides a privileged port of entry to the realm and, ultimately, the being of God. In short, there is a deeply sacramental character to the act. The poor become a necessary and indeed nonnegotiable point of access to the kingdom of God (Gary Anderson).

Will you remember the poor?

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