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)