preaching good news to the poor: a theology of poverty
TRANSCRIPT
Leaven Leaven
Volume 1 Issue 2 Ministry to the Poor Article 8
1-1-1990
Preaching Good News to the Poor: A Theology of Poverty Preaching Good News to the Poor: A Theology of Poverty
Harold Shank
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32 LEAVEN Spring 1990
I~IPREACHING GOOD NEWSTO THE POOR: A Theology of Poverty
Harold Shank
After singing "If! Had a Hammer," "This LandIs Your Land," "Puff the Magic Dragon," and "WhereHave All the Flowers Gone?", Peter, Paul and Maryconclude their concerts with Bob Dylan's "Blowin' inthe Wind." The song takes up the concerns of theunfortunate of the world:
How many deaths will it take till he knows thattoo many people have died?/ How many yearscan some people exist before they're allowed tobe free?/ How many times can a man turn hishead, pretending he just doesn't see?/ Theanswer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. Theanswer is blowin' in the wind.
People pondered these matters long before Bob Dylanset them to music, yet his questions renewed the issues.What will it take to move us to action? Will it be themounting death toll that causes people to respond? Willit be the passing years of suffering that jolt others toaction? Will it be the guilty conscience of the turnedhead that finally leads to help?
Proposals for Solving PovertyBeyond that, Dylan's lines raise the issue of
how much progress we are making in this area. Howmany is too many? How long is too long? What does itmean to bring justice to the land?
In the years since "Blowin' in the Wind" waspopular, we have seen many suggestions as to how wecan deal with the inequities and injustices in the world.Garrett Hardin was a distinguished biologist at theUniversity of California at Santa Barbara when heproposed "lifeboat ethics" in the 1970. In an article in
Dr.Harold Shank is the minister for Highland St.Church in Memphis. TN. He is an Oklahoma Chris-tian graduate and holds graduate degrees fromHarding Graduate School and Marquette.
Psychology Today, he urged us not to help the poorand third world nations. He said that the pockets ofwealthy people in the world were lifeboats. Ifhumanityis to survive, then we must keep the people in thelifeboats safe. Widespread death and destruction is theonly way to deal with poverty and starvation. If thereis room in the boat, let a few more in, but otherwisekeep them out in order to ensure the survival of therace.'
At the other end of the spectrum, CharlieGarriott, a Christian worker who serves on the SiouxIndian Reservation, maintains that to deal justly withthe American Indian, all their land should be returnedand they should be recompensed for three hundredyears of injustice. 2
John White, in his book The Golden Cow,argues that most of middle class, American lifestyle issinful. He puts down everything from advertising tosalesmen, from television evangelists to church fundraisers." In a volume called God's Foreign Policy,Miriam Adeney tells the story of giving up life inAmerica and moving to a third world country to resettlerefugees and change everything from politics to agri-culture." Ron Sider, in Rich Christians in an Age ofHunger, attacks all people living in affluent societiesfor not doing enough to help the poor."
It is striking that nearly all ofthese views dealwith poverty from the perspective of the "haves." Thegoals are set in terms ofwhat we ought to do, not whatthe poor need to receive. Would the return ofMinnesotaand Montana really help the Indians, or if we all movedto third world countries would the world really be abetter place? What is our goal in helping the poor? Doesthe answer just blow in the wind? As God's people,where do we start?
The Proposal of JesusIn Luke 4:16, Jesus entered the Nazareth
synagogue one Saturday. Apparently, standard prac-tice in the service called for someone to read a text from
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the Law and then for a meturgeman or interpreter totranslate the text into the language of the people,explaining it as he went along. Then if there were anyguest speakers present who wanted to talk, they wouldstand. After they were recognized, they would thenread a text from the Prophets and speak.
Widely known as a rabbi, Jesus stood after thereading of the Law. The leader of the synagogue mo-tioned for him to go ahead and speak. He read this textfrom Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, becausehe has anointed me to preach GoodNews to thepoor. He has sent me to proclaim release to thecaptives and recovering of sight to the blind, toset at liberty those who are oppressed, to pro-claim the acceptable year of the Lord.
Only one line of his comment survives in Luke 4:"Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hear-ing." Even as he spoke, people began to respond in twoways. At first, they were impressed. After he cited thestories about Elijah helping the widow and Elishahealing Naaman, they began to turn against him. Theychased him out of their synagogue to a place outside oftown where they weregoing to throw him overthe cliff, but he escapedtheir deadly intentions.
What Does It Meanto Preach GoodNews to the Poor?
Jesus never intended just to quotethe words from Isaiah; he showedby his actions that the Good Newswas to be preached among thepoor, not just the poor in spirit butthe poor in money.
Just as Jesus'application ofthe ancienttext bothered the peoplein Nazareth, so the state-ment from Isaiah troubles us. How are the poor con-nected to the preaching of the Gospel? Poverty raiseseconomic issues; the Gospel deals with theologicalconcerns. Poverty calls for help and aid; the Gospelflourishes with preaching. Does the statement meanonly the poor can hear the Good News? Does it meanthat once the poor hear the Good News, the preacher'stask is finished? What sort of connection do Isaiah andJesus imagine between physical poverty and spiritualGood News? The first answers to those inquiries comeby way of the ministries of Jesus, Isaiah, and theJerusalem church.
First, the ministry of Jesus illustrates how thepreaching and the poor go together. Reports on hiswork are found in Luke 4:14-16, 6:20b-21, and 7:22.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spiritinto Galilee, and a report concerning him wentout through all the surrounding country. And
Proclaimi,., tJu AcuplDblc Year of du Lord: Mi,u3lr'J to lAc Poor 33
he taught in their synagogues, being glorifiedby all. And he came to Nazareth, where he hadbeen brought up; and he went to the syna-gogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day.
"Blessed are you poor, for yours is thekingdom of God. Blessed are you that hungernow, for you shall be satisfied."
And he answered them, "Go and tell Johnwhat you have seen and heard: the blind re-ceive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cle-ansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raisedup, the poor have goodnews preached to them.And blessed is he who takes no offense at me."
Jesus worked with the sick, the disenfranchised, thehandicapped, the bereaved, and these were the verypeople who responded to his message. He was winningconverts among the poor in the backwater areas ofPalestine, not among the rich and powerful in the cul-tural centers of the ancient world. Jesus never in-tended just to quote the words from Isaiah; he showedby his actions that the Good News was to be preachedamong the poor, not just the poor in spirit but the poorin money. His audience included not only those in spiri-tual distress, but those literally in distress. Jesus' own
ministry combinedserving the body andthe spirit.
Second, theministry of Isaiah il-lustrates how peachingand poverty go to-gether. Jesus' workmirrored the call toministry in Isaiah 55-66. Twelve chapters ofIsaiah take up the re-turn of the Jewishpeople from Babylo-
nian captivity. Ezra and Nehemiah tell stories of re-building lives and culture.
One major concern of post-exilic Jerusalemwas poverty. In the midst ofburned- out buildings andhomelessness, people feuded. As a result, the poverty ofmany people worsened. Godwas angry about the injus-tices being done. In Isaiah 58:7, 10-11a, God called hisprophet to help these afflicted people, to bind up theirbroken hearts, and to set captives free:
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,and bring the homeless poor into your house;when you see the naked, to cover him, and notto hide yourself from your own flesh?
If you pour yourself out for the hungry andsatisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shallyour light rise in the darkness and your gloom
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you continually, and satisfy your desire withgood things.
Yet the ministry of God's prophet was not limited tophysical needs and the overthrow of injustice.
Thus says the LORD, "Keep justice, and dorighteousness, for soon my salvation will come,and my deliverance be revealed.
For behold, I create new heavens and a newearth; and the former things shall not be re-membered or come into mind. But be glad andrejoice fer ever in that which I create; forbehold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and herpeople a joy."
These passages in Isaiah 56:1 and 65:17-18 indicatethat God was concerned that they know his salvation.'I'here was to, be no evangelism without benevolence,but no benevolence without evangelism. So "preachingGood News to the poor" is shown in the ministries ofJesus and Isaiah.
Third, the ministry of the early church also il-lustrates how preaching and poverty go together. Lukegives six oftwenty-eight chapters in Acts to describingthe first church. In five ofthose chapters, he describesin detail the massive concern of the Jerusalem churchfor the poor. Many of the early Christians were poor.There was a benevolent program in place as soon as thechurch was started. As the church expanded, the be-nevolent program grew. Or as the benevolent programexpanded, so the church grew. It is hard to tell thedifference between the two. The Jerusalem church
It does not matter how strongour sermons, how clear ourwords, how many kilowatts we.use in our broadcasts; if thepeople who receive do notsense our love, then it is not theGoodNews.
grew and helped the poor. They preached Good News tothe poor.
A Theology of PovertyWhat did God have in mind whenhe ordained
Jesus to preach Good News to the poor? It happened inthe ministry of Isaiah, in the work of Jesus, in the
""HVI "03VI "In: tlt:rUSHlemcnurcn, but theologically, what .is happening? How can we understand what Godwants? The answer to these questions lies deep in thefabric of Scripture rather than in anyone verse. Threefundamental concepts in the Bible unite "preaching"and the "poor."
First, preaching GoodNews to the poor findsunity in God's Love. If in our preaching, people do notsense our love, then it is not Gospel preaching;JJin ourhelping, people do not sense our love, then it- is nothelping. It does not matter how strong our sermons,how clear our words, how many kilowatts we use in ourbroadcasts; if the people who receive do not sense ourlove, then it is not the Good News. It does not-matterhow many Life Skills Labs, how many soup kitchens,how many give away programs we have; if the-peoplewho receive do not sense our love, then it is not-GoodNews.
God's love finds expression in verbal presenta-tions of the Gospel, but also in the physical o$irs ofassistance to the poor. Both the love ofthe speaker andthe content ofthe message are Good News. Beth-love ofthe giver and the offer ofthe gift are Good News;
To divorce love from the Good News teats outthe heart of Scripture. To somehow believe that thedoctrine of Scripture can be cast out to a hopeless worldwithout love rips at the very fabric of our faith. To keeplove to ourselves betrays God no less than keepingmum about the cross.
Although God's love flourishes in our churchbuildings and among our church members and is ex-pressed by many good people, Christians cannot bebeguiled into believing that God's love should exist onlyin churches of Christ or in good people or among theloveable.
God does not limit his love to the slaves whobuilt the tent shrine in the wilderness or to the Israel-ites who constructed the limestone temple above theKidron Valley or to the Christians who put up the redbrick church buildings along America's main streets.God is not just the God of Israel, of American Chris-tians, of the rich and affluent, but God of all!
God wants good tidings of his love to be felt bythe poor and afflicted. He wants to dress the wounds ofthe brokenhearted. He wants the unjustly imprisonedto know the freedom of his love. God loves the needy.
God's love for all humankind forms the basicfabric of Scripture. If God's people do not believe that,who will? Ifthe church of Christ does not believe that.who will? Iflove is not available in our churches, like itwas from Isaiah and Jesus, where is it available? If allpeople of all races and all backgrounds are not welcomein our midst as they were in the presence of Jesus,where will they be accepted?
What city in the United States offers genuinefriendliness and acceptance? Not one! Which commu-nity in our nation is known for urging people to stand
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in the-blaze of God's magnificent love? Not one! Whichmetropolitan area welcomes the disenfranchised, thelame, the blind, the poor, the cast off from the otherareas? Not one!
But that is exactly what Christians must do.We are not called to be God's frozen people, who give acold shoulder to the down and out, to the people who aredifferent or odd or bad or wicked or poor, but ourchurches are to be places of warmth and welcome. Weare not called to be God's frozen people who give sucha chilly reception to the outsider and to the handi-capped and to the foreigner that they seek warmthelsewhere.
We must imitate the Jerusalem church whererich and poor joined around the Lord's Supper in unity.We must be a church where the rejected of our societycan find love and concern.
Rather than keeping the love of God to our-selves and regarding the unfriendliness of our apart-ment buildings, the isolation and loneliness of our city,and the poverty that lies just a few miles from ourbuildings as the problems of others, we must welcomethese fl~opportunities for us to be the church. The pleasfor usto'cook meals, donate clothes, and minister in theinner city are not burdens to be borne or jobs to beignored, but they are opportunities for us to be thechurch. We need the outsider. The poor are God's gift tous to help us understand our role in the world asspreaders of his love.
Many in our society and in our churches holdthat everybody should pursue their own interests andnot interfere in the lives of others. Many think thatwhat others believe is a private matter. All of that iswrong! Love demands interference. Love demandsteaching. Love demands breaking down the phonybarriers of society.
Being the loving church means providing ahaven for the outsider. Being the concerned churchmeans doing for others what the church has done for us.Being the God-like church means being joyful overopportunities to sacrifice. One ofthe ways in which wepreach GoodNews to the poor is by sharing God's love!
Second, preaching Good News to the poor findsunity in God's Grace. If people do not sense the graceof God when we go into our pulpits, if people do notsense the grace of God when they read our tracts, ifpeople do not sense the grace of God when they hear ourpeople talk about the church, then it is not preachingthe Good News. If people do not sense the grace of Godwhen they pick up clothes at our building, if people donot sense the grace of God when they get Christmasbaskets from us, if people do not sense the grace of Godwhen they get a voucher from our workers, it is notpreaching the Good News.
Helping the poor must be done with grace,recognizing that we are saved by grace, and communi-cating verbally that the help comes by his grace. There
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is no room in helping the poor for any attitude that weare better or that we have arrived or that we look downin judgment and pride.
God calls his people to serve the poor out ofrecognition that all are without merit. It was offensiveto God when the Israelites appeared at the temple withtheir freshly groomed sheep and ready-to-be-slaugh-tered cattle, and yet had hearts that lacked humilityand sensitivity. An Israelite might walk past a poorman and not notice, but the incident would not get past
We are not called to be God's fro-zen people, who give a coldshoulder to the down and out, tothe people who are different orodd or bad or wicked or poor,but our churches are to beplaces of warmth and welcome.
God. It was inconsistent to want to worship God, yet notcare for the oppressed. To want to serve the God whocared for the needy without having the same care inone's own heart offended the Lord.
Most ofthe Old Testament is the story of howIsrael forgot these principles. They forgot that they hadbeen poor. They forgot they had been slaves. Theyforgot that God loved the poor. They forgot that Godloved the slaves. They forgot that love was not earned.They forgot that they enjoyed God's wonderful bless-ings not because they were worthy, not because theywere special, not because they were obedient, notbecause they had the right doctrine, not because theywore the right name, not because they had the rightgenes, not because they were the right color or race, butbecause God gave them a love they did not deserve.
Furthermore, they forgot that there was aconnection between God's identification with the poorand God's unmerited love. The people who did not helpthe needy had forgotten something significant aboutwho they are and what had happened to them. ThusGod could send Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jesus, and Paulto call his people to help the poor, not as a spiritual sideshow, not as an auxiliary off to the side, but out of thecentral concern he has shown to Israel in leading themout of Egypt, to the exiles in leading them back toJerusalem, and to modern America in rescuing us outof sin.
If we begin to think that our preaching or oursalvation or our church life has nothing to do with thepoor, then we need to look again at Scripture. We needto look again at Amos where God's prophet rebukes thepeople for playing church while ignoring the needy. We
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36 LIlAYEN Spring 1990
need to look again atJesus who says to the goats on hisleft hand, "When you didn't do it to the least of these mybrothers, you didn't do it to me" (Matthew 25:45). Weneed to look again at Paul, who proclaims in 2 Corinthi-ans 8:9, "Though Jesus was rich, yet for your sake hebecame poor."
If we begin to think that ourpreaching or our salvation orour church life has nothing todo with the poor, then we needto look again at Scripture.
God's love is free. It is not earned. God is notobligated to give us anything. It is free. It is a gift. Itcomes not because we earn it or deserve it or qualify forit. It comes because he loved us.
No one is worthy of God's love. Not the poor.Not the rich. Not the lost. Not the saved. It is out of thisunderstanding of receiving something for free that wehelp others. It is not a matter of somebody good helpingsomebody bad. It is not a matter of somebody who istogether helping somebody who is a mess. It is not amatter of Mr. Clean helping Mr. Dirty. Rather, it isclearly a matter of one who has received somethingundeserved helping another who receives somethingundeserved.
Helping the poor is an extension of the unmer-ited love of God. It is not a time to depersonalize orhumiliate or build one's own sense of importance orgenerosity, but every cup ofwater is an extension ofthecup ofwater we have already received. Every visit is areflection ofthe visit we have already received. Everybit offood, every nickel and dime shadows that whichwe have already received.
There is not a person who deserves to be saved.There is not a person who is pure and holy by their owndiscipline and iron will. There is not a person whodeserves the deep red blood flowing down Calvary'shill. Not one. Not one! The moment we move to theposition that God owes us, at that moment we becomelike the people in Jesus' home town who refused to hearwhat God was saying.
Having received grace, we respond with grace.Back in the 1930s, seven unemployed farmers fromMississippi on the way to Nashville to find work ran offthe road just outside Nashville. Three people werekilled. Three children were in the car. Before the policeor ambulance arrived at the scene, people from one ofthe churches of Christ in Nashville were there. Theyopened their homes and took care ofthe three children.They paid the medical bills of the injured. They con-
ducted memorial services, purchased grave plots, andburied the three who died. They also erected tomb-stones over the individual graves. Somebody called thechurch office and asked, "Why did you go to all thisexpense? Why did you buy expensive stones? Thesepeople were just poor people!" The answer came back:"Everybody deserves to be buried with dignity."
There is something about the spirit of God inthat response that turns our heads. Even we want toknow what it was about that church that made them dothat. It did not make good business sense. Culturalnorms did not demand it. Social pressure went anotherdirection. The thing that moved those people was thespirit of a God who loves with no strings attached.
A young couple came to the front door of adowntown church. They carried several bags of whatlooked like all that they owned. Most of us would haveopened the door a crack to make a safe initial inquiry.But the elder who saw them did not. He opened the doorwide, smiled, and said, "It's so good to see you. Comeright in. I'm so glad you stopped by."
Dignity. Kindness. Sensitivity. They never goout of style. What a wonderful lesson that elder hadlearned about passing on love. What wonderful pleas-ure our father in Heaven must have had when he sawhis servant expressing grace. It is in passing on gracethat we preach Good News to the poor.
Third, preaching Good News to the poor findsunity in God's Salvation. If our preaching does not getto the cross, if our message does not talk about Jesus,if our churches never get to the death, burial, andresurrection, then it is not preaching the Good News. Ifour programs to help the poor do not have some way ofkindly sharing about the cross, if our aid to the ghettodoes not contain some notion ofJesus, if our help to thehomeless never mentions the heavenly home, then it isnot preaching the Good News.
No simpler explanation of Jesus' adopted pur-pose statement emerges than the simple point that thebest news for the poor is the Good News. "He hasanointed me to preach GoodNews to the poor." The bestnews for everybody, whether they live in a penthouseor a shotgun house, comes packaged under the titleGOODNEWS.
Jesus came with Good News for the poor. Hewas not lying. His goal was not just to keep the massesquiet. His goal was not to make everyone middle class.His goal was not 100% employment. His goal was notto deprive some to satisfy others. His goal was not toserve tables and ignore preaching.
Rather the GoodNews about eternal life whichbegins new and lasts forever has direct application topoverty. Itis better news than any economic or politicalprogram. It is GoodNews because it brings a caring andloving God together with hurting and needy people,and it is done through God's saved community.
No higher response, no better aid, no more
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lasting refuge can corne to the poor than the story ofGod's grace at the cross. Nothing can better satisfy thedeepest hunger ofthe poorest person than the Bread ofLife. Nothing can more adequately quench the driestthirst than the Blood of Christ.
The ultimate solution to humankind's mostfundamental problems lie in the Good News. Newhousing, shipments of food, better medicine, astutecounseling, well-planned re-education, drug detoxifi-cation centers, job-training sessions, and a host ofother needed and necessary elements of expressingGod's concern for the poor all fall short of the changepossible through the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The Answer: Preach Good News to thePoor
Christians must imitate the Jerusalemchurch. We must follow Jesus. We must welcome theoutsider to the love ofGod. We must give to the poor andthe unfortunate freely, just as we have freely beengiven to. We must cultivate the spiritual. We mustraise the holy. We must overcome our frozenness, ourquietness, and speak. We must ignore the culturalnorms that say "mind your own business" and "do nottalk religion," and we must preach the Good News to
Proclaiming Ute Acc~ptablt: Year of dte Lord: Milti3lry 10Ute Poor 37
the poor. If we carry that message of love, grace, andsalvation to the poor of our society, do not be surprisedat all if revival sweeps America, starting in the ghettos.
A few years ago at the end oftheir twenty-fifth anniversary concert, Peter, Paul, and Marylooked over their audience. Mary said, "You were,and you are, and you will always be the answer thatblows in the wind." Television cameras scanned theaudience as many people wiped tears away fromtheir eyes because she had touched a chord in theirhearts.
But to depend on people like them andpeople like me to find within our hearts the answerseems risky business.
The answer does not blow in the wind. Theanswer is in the heart of God. When his people fullyunderstand the heart of the Father, then his peoplewill be moved to deal with others with compassionand Good News.
"Preaching Good News to the Poor:A Theology ofPoverty" was presented as the keynote address at the FirstNational Conference on Ministry to the Poor and Homelesson May 4, 1990, and will appear in a forthcoming bookabout churches of Christ and the poor.
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