Jesus and His Bible, Part 18

 Generosity and the Poor

Following his apocalyptic sermon, Jesus told his followers that they would need to stay alert because no one except God knows when the end of all things will occur.  Despite this clear statement, Christians through the ages have speculated and predicted the end of the age to the day and hour. What Jesus did know was that his own days were numbered because the religious leaders were looking for ways to seize him in order to kill him.  

Jesus was in Bethany at dinner when a woman with an alabaster vial of costly perfume came in, broke it and poured it over his head.  By itself, this was a remarkable act of generosity, but to some it was wasteful.  “She should have sold it and given the money to the poor,” they said to each other.  

However, Jesus commended the woman who poured perfume over him and defended her action to those critical of it.  “She has anointed my body for burial,” he said, “and her gift will be spoken of in the whole world.” Despite Jesus’s advice to stay alert and his clearly stated expectation that he would die soon, their concern was to disparage the woman’s gift because of “the poor.” It appears that only the woman took Jesus seriously and “she has done what she could.”

But Jesus did address their concern for the poor: “For the poor you always have with you, and whenever you wish, you can do them good; but you do not always have me” (Mark 14:7). This comment immediately turned the spotlight onto the critics: what had they done for the poor lately? 

Jesus’s comment alludes to a passage in the Torah: “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’” (Deut. 15:11). 

The text commends generosity toward the poor, but not just handing out money to them. The context of this verse in Deuteronomy is the requirement to remit all debts every seven years. This requirement, if observed, would go a long way to lessening poverty, particularly generational poverty.  Every seven years, a family would have a chance to live and work without indebtedness, a chance to start over. Specifically, the Deuteronomy text goes on to insist that every Hebrew who must sell himself or herself into slavery must be freed in the seventh year, and must be sent away with supplies, always remembering the years of slavery in Egypt, and how the Lord set Israel free and furnished them with the goods of Egypt in their escape.

Once again Jesus rebuked the religious elite of the day for observing jots and tittles of the law but ignoring the law of love for neighbor. By including this quotation, Jesus reminded all his hearers of the requirements of Mosaic law that go to mitigating poverty, a law that each of them is responsible to fulfill. These requirements are with them and us daily. I’m reminded of the times I have heard “the poor are always with you” as an excuse for apathy, but instead Jesus and the Law make this persistence of poverty the reason for practical compassion.  Remit their debts. Give them access to your extra. Help them make a new start.