Giving to the Poor

“Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” 
Matthew 5:42
 Here Jesus point to people in need.
We need to have compassion on the poor. It’s easy in our society to look down on a poor person especially someone on the street that may be panhandling.
We have no idea why that person is in the position they are. But if we can afford it, it never hurts to give something.
I heard not to long ago a preacher on television condemning people on welfare calling them “lazy bums.” telling them to go out and get a job.
I know a lot of people on welfare.
Most of those I  know are not in the system by choice. Some were laid off from their jobs. Others are on it because of medical reasons.
None of these people like going to the government cap in hand asking for a hand out. It frankly is demeaning. And welfare where I live at least pays far below the poverty line. Making it hard sometimes impossible to make ends meet.
True there are a some who play the system but there not as many as one would like to think.
Most people want to work and many poor people do. The minimum wage where I live is ten dollars an hour a subsistence living at best. Well below the poverty line.
The provincial government realizing it is too low is raising it much to the displeasure of some business groups.
I’ve read that in the United States the basic minimum wage is in some places below five dollars an hour.
This in a country that can’t even offer its citizens a good government health insurance as is done in all other western democracies.
The bottom line is no one in North America can live on five dollars an hour or ten dollars an hour.
       Sadly many business groups complain about giving more to those on welfare or raising the minimum wage.
The same business groups that think its fine to allow multinational corporations to go to the government for grants and tax incentives to place their factories in a particular jurisdiction.
What one politician in Canada in the seventies called “corporate welfare bums”.
We as individuals, particularly we as Christian businessmen and women need to be benevolent towards the poor.
The Talmud tells a story that goes like this,
“Rabbi Akiba was asked by a Roman general, “Why does your God who loves the needy not provide for their support Himself?”  He answered, “God the Father of both the rich and poor, wants the one to help the other so as to make the world a household of love.”
Now I know there are many Christians out there that give a lot to the poor. Both domestically and to international aid. Christians are for the most part a giving people.
Still we as Christians need, I believe, to look at how we see those in need. We need to reach out to them and help them in any way that we can.
Christian businessmen and women need to look at what they are paying their employees and ask themselves is this enough for them to live on.
         We should be lobbying our government to help the poor more.
         I’m not saying here we should encourage people who are able bodied to sit around and collect a check.
What I’m saying is we should be helping the poor. If they need a few bucks fine. But if they need training to start earning a good living then companies and the government should be stepping up and offering it.
The old saying “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day teach him to fish and you feed him for life.” is very true.
We’re always going to have poor among us. But it is up to us as a society to help those we can particularly the sick, the disabled and those who cannot truly help themselves.
Keeping them on a subsistence living simply because it’s going to cost the government more money is not a good excuse.
If these persons were captured and in danger of dying at the hands of terrorist the same government that gives little to help the poor, would spend whatever it took to rescue them.

We as Christians should be leading the way in benevolence. The Jews have a word for it its called Tzedakah

Philip Bernstein explains it this way,
“If there is one area that identifies and unites Jews, no matter what their personal beliefs and practices, it is Tzedakah.  Tzedakah is more than charity or philanthropy, noble as they are, more than man’s humanity to man, exalted as that is, more truly it is righteousness and justice.  Without these qualities civilization would perish.
It is the highest ideal in Jewish teaching—for it is the highest application of Jewish ethical values.  It is Judaism in action—and Judaism is inherently and deeply a religion of action, a way of life, a way of living.”
Jews are encouraged to give ten percent of their income to helping the poor. Even someone who is poor themselves is asked to give although they may give less than ten precent.
And there is an admonishing not to give so much as for you to become a burden on society yourself.
One Jewish teacher gave the levels of Tzedakah
1.Giving begrudgingly
2.Giving less that you should, but giving it cheerfully.
3.Giving after being asked
4.Giving before being asked
5.Giving when you do not know the recipient's identity, but the recipient knows your identity
6.Giving when you know the recipient's identity, but the recipient doesn't know your identity
7.Giving when neither party knows the other's identity
8.Enabling the recipient to become self-reliant
I think the above list is something Christians need to look at carefully.     Christianity came from Judaism. We share common values. I believe the spirit of Tzedakah should be one of them.
Think about it.