Do the Math

It was a cool, blustery spring day and I was in one of the worst neighborhoods in Atlanta with a group of students working to clean up an apartment complex playground and have a cookout for the residents. It was a part of Spring Ministry Day at Point University and we were doing our best to make the playground at least “semi-usable.” Some students were going from apartment to apartment, inviting the residents to the picnic. 

What I already knew about the residents of the complex included these facts: (a) most were single mothers with several children, not always from the same missing father; (b) most were high school dropouts; (c) more than a few were struggling with a variety of addiction issues from alcohol to a host of what the more proper people have called “illegal substances,” and (d) none of them could see any light at the end of the tunnel.

While working on the playground, I noticed a big banner hanging on one of the exterior walls of the complex, facing the street. It advertised a “move-in special” rent rate of $795 per month. I started doing some math in my head (and later checked it out on a calculator for accuracy) and realized why there seems to be not even a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel for these folks.

First, if someone living in that complex wanted to find a job, without a high school diploma, that probably means working in a convenience store, liquor store, or other such businesses that seems to flock to these kinds of neighborhoods. A job in those places is most likely going to pay the minimum wage, which was $7.25 in 2009 when I was in that playground. But it is also true that those kinds of places often limit their employees to 30 hours per week or less – that way you avoid the requirement to provide benefits like health insurance, retirement, disability insurance, etc. (Chances are pretty reasonable that the apartment complex and the convenience store are owned by people who have lots of cash in the bank.)

A little math provides some opportunity for being stunned by the facts: (a) that person will make $217.50 per week, before taxes, social security, medicare, etc. are deducted; (b) in order to come up with the $795 “move-in special” rate for rent, it takes 18 days  (3.6 weeks) just to have the money to pay the rent, and that is assuming no taxes were deducted; and (c) we still don’t have electricity, water, and gas to make the apartment livable. 

The salary earned during the remaining 12 days of the month will have to pay the utilities, buy the groceries, pay the doctor bill, and buy a pass to ride public transit. And should this person follow Dave Ramsey’s recommended approach to biblical economics, she will need to tithe $21.75 weekly to her local church. 

For lots of people who see themselves as followers of Jesus, the temptation is to focus on facts other than the brutal, destitute reality of “paying rent on minimum wages.” Of course she should not have dropped out of high school – even with a diploma a decent salary in our culture without a college degree is becoming increasingly hard to find. Of course she shouldn’t have children and not be married – but so much about our culture’s approach to poverty pushes people in the corner in ways that “one more baby” seems the way out. She shouldn’t be spending her money on MD 2020 and malt liquor or the “illegal substances” available on every street corner, but honesty compels me to wonder would I have the courage to not do that in those circumstances. I’m not saying that is a morally correct decision, but just suggesting that the Sanctimonious Simons (see Luke 7:36ff) of the following-Jesus world ought to at least occasionally think “there but for the grace of God . . .”

The civic Jesus who so often becomes the object of our worship and who promises “God helps those who help themselves,” and assures us that prosperity is just around the corner if we learn to manage our money better is not the same Jesus described on page after page of the four gospels.  I sometimes wonder, when I listen to the financial gurus who like to claim to speak on behalf of Jesus, if they are reading the same Bible I read. It is especially troubling to me when it comes out something like “if you have money, you’re blessed by God,” and “if you’re poor, it’s your own fault and not blessed by God.”

When followers of Jesus resort to using cultural values to define God’s blessings, you can be sure that an inescapable corner is lurking close by.  Lots of my peers have grandchildren. Vicki and I don’t. Have we done something that has caused God to withhold that blessing?  Vicki spent a considerable portion of the year 2013 very ill – sometimes critically. Has God decided to withhold His blessing on her life because she has been sick? I have friends who have worked hard all their lives, and still live from paycheck to paycheck – and not because they spend their money frivolously. And I have friends who just seem to have “the Midas touch” and don’t really work all that hard, but can afford extravagant vacations all the time and pay the bills.

I know some very well-to-do people who have decided to use their resources to advance the kingdom in ways that are amazing. I know some very well-to-do people who resist dropping a dime in the Salvation Army buckets at Christmas. I know some not-so-well-to-do people who give generously from their meager resources, and can’t afford a vacation, much less an extravagant one. Of course I know some not-so-well-to-do folks who do nothing for the kingdom.

It seems to me that what makes a person “blessed by God” is not what we have, but what we choose to do with whatever we have. To let the radio talk show folks who seem to think of themselves as theologically astute speak on behalf of Christ on this topic is worse than nonsense. Matthew 8 (verses  5-11) is the story where Jesus says about the Gentile Centurion that He had not found that great a faith in all of Israel. Jesus made that statement not based on how much money, or what position the centurion occupied – but on his willingness to absolutely trust his servant to the care of Jesus. I have a hard time thinking anything but that what makes me “blessed by God” is not how much money I have but how much I trust God with what I do have. 

If we want to associate an economic theory with Jesus, then the best way to do that would be to listen to what He actually says. That’s fairly easy to do. Matthew 19:16ff, Mark 10:17ff, and Luke 18:18ff are pretty direct statements.  When asked “Teacher, what good thing must I do in order to have life eternal?” Jesus replies with an overview of the Ten Commandments, interestingly not mentioning “do not covet.” The young man replies “I’ve done them all!” and Jesus doesn’t correct him. Then Jesus says, “sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Matthew 18:21) That of course is followed, in Matthew’s version, by “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” 

Every time I read these three accounts – and it is worth noting that there are relatively few such stories told by all three Synoptic Gospel writers – I want to immediately say, “This can’t mean what it sounds like it means.” But I have to remind myself that in Mark’s account we are told that “Jesus loved this young man.” So, if Jesus really didn’t mean this and He really loved this young man, why isn’t He going after him to say, “Hey, stop – don’t go away sad, I didn’t mean that so seriously.” And if Jesus didn’t mean this, why does it seem as though Luke’s account of the earliest, early church in Acts 2:42-4:37 reflects an approach to the kingdom of God that took this story very seriously?

Honestly, I don’t know what to do with this story. In the name of transparency, I own a house, two cars, some furniture, a little piece of property I inherited in South Carolina, some other “stuff” that is the normal “stuff” westerners own, and a boat-load of books. When students borrow my books, I ask them “to sign them out” so I know I will get them back. My house is not on the market and I have no plans to sell it and give the money I receive away. I’m trying to save a little for retirement and have paid who knows how much in self-employed social security taxes. 

But . . . that story Jesus told is still there and won’t go away. So at least I ought to be very generous with what I have. To blame a poor person for being poor and view my rich self as “blessed by God” seems to be so far removed from what Jesus actually said that it has to border on, if not cross, the line of heresy. It would probably be foolish for me “to sell it all, give it away, and expect the church to take care of me” in the cultural context in which I have been called to follow Jesus.  But it is no less foolish to assume that because I have so much, I am especially blessed by God and poor people aren’t. 

One of the great lessons I’ve learned in making numerous trips for Seminary of the Nations to some of the world’s poorest spots is that you can be dirt poor and still see yourself as greatly blessed by God. Blessing has less to do with “how much” and much more to do with “How do I trust God?” Some of the most joyful, “blessed” people I have ever met were also some of the poorest – who apparently found Jesus’ story not all that troubling.

I saw a blog post from Rachel Held Evans taking on Dave Ramsey a bit about his attitude toward poverty. Of course Ms. Evans is female, so in the minds of some she can’t really speak to biblical ideals and whatever else you might say about her, she is unafraid to address the sacred cow topics of our day. No surprise that some followers of Jesus have less than kind things to say about her over that particular blog and quite a few others.    

She doesn’t need me to defend her – and that’s not what this is about. I certainly don’t think she has the exactly correct, biblical point of view on every topic about which she writes – I don’t even think I do! But she has poked at a sore place that needs poking. How any follower of Jesus could associate wealth as the tried and true sign of blessing is simply beyond my ability to comprehend. It makes me wonder whether the prosperity gospel stuff of the televangelists has infiltrated more orthodox gospel preaching or whether our own sense of orthodoxy was corrupted and the prosperity folks took corrupted theology for gospel.

When all is said and done, I want those poor, single mothers living in the shabby apartments of an Atlanta ghetto to see a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. That flicker has to do with Jesus, who declared Himself to be “the light of the world” and commissioned His followers to let our lights shine. That’s probably not going to happen as long as the face and voice of the gospel in our culture continues to suggest that the only sure way to know you are blessed by God is to have some cash in the bank. And that if you happen to be one of those poor people living in that complex, then it’s your fault and you will have to fix it.

I will be eternally grateful that when Jesus looked at the pitiful excuse for a life that I offered Him, He didn’t say “it’s y our fault and you will have to fix it.” Paul understood that well and perhaps that is why he said, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, on order to bring praise to God.” (Romans 15:8)