I think it was in the base communities of Sao Paulo that the expression Yahweh’s option for the poor first arose. I recall reading about it first whilst employed at St Mark’s Canberra as Director of Lay Education in late eighties.
To my mind there is overwhelming evidence of God’s concern for the poor, the disadvantaged, the widow, the fatherless and the refugee in scripture. Here is some of the evidence that comes to mind.
The story of Ruth and Boaz reminds me of the command in Deuteronomy 24:19 ‘When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.’
Deuteronomy 15:1-2 speaks of the Sabbatical year ‘At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the LORD’S release has been proclaimed.’
And in Leviticus 25 we read of the marvellous year of jubilee. ‘You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you.
There are laws relating to doing justice
You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.
“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (Lev. 19)
“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. (Lev. 25)
And then the prophets reveal how faithful Israel has been to this vision.
Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the LORD?
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
o undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
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 not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday. (Isaiah 58)
I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:20-24)
And this fabulous piece of paraphrasing from ‘The Message’.
Listen to my Message,
you Sodom-schooled leaders.
Receive God’s revelation,
you Gomorrah-schooled people.
“Why this frenzy of sacrifices?”
GOD’s asking.
“Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices,
rams and plump grain-fed calves?
Don’t you think I’ve had my fill
of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats?
When you come before me,
who ever gave you the idea of acting like this,
Running here and there, doing this and that—
all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?
“Quit your worship charades.
I can’t stand your trivial religious games:
Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—
meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
You’ve worn me out!
I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion,
while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance,
I’ll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I’ll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing
people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up.
Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
so I don’t have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong.
Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless. (Isaiah 1:10-17, the Message)
And it goes on in the words of Jesus and beyond.
Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 as his ‘mission statement’:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus proclaims who are blessed in the Beatitudes
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Then there are the well known stories of Jesus.
The rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
And the famous account of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This is a very interesting passage. Many if not most people assume Jesus is referring to anyone, anywhere, who is hungry, in prison etc. But on every other occasion where Jesus uses the term ‘brother’ as he does in v.40, he is referring to his followers, those who we would now call Christians. And when he says ‘I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me’ etc. it calls to mind his question to Saul in Acts ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ Jesus says that when we treat his ‘brothers’ well or badly, we are in fact treating him well or badly. So I conclude that the Matthew passage does NOT refer to all people everywhere, but to Christians — Christians anywhere in the world — which is challenge enough.
And the apostles themselves agree with the testimony of the law and the prophets and Jesus himself.
Paul devoted a tremendous amount of energy to the collection for the poor brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.
James famously wrote: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)
And less well known, the Apostle John wrote: By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16)
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It seems to me that caring for less well off — Yahweh’s option for the poor — is a golden thread that runs right through Scripture. I suppose it goes without saying that left leaning political parties are more in tune with the option for the poor. Yes, such parties, many Christians would say would say, have many elements in their platforms that a lot of Christians find offensive. Policies such as supporting euthanasia, infringing the rights of employers of Christian organisations to refuse employment to people who are not sympathetic to the organisations’ values, enthusiastically supporting the LGBTQI community, supporting gay marriage, endorsing Safe Schools programs with what many Christians consider to be hidden ‘fluid’ sexuality agendas, and so on. Left leaning parties, however, do tend to have a social conscience.
On the other hand, it seems to me that at least in this country, right leaning conservative governments are intent on ‘stealing from the poor’ and giving to the rich. It seems to me that neocon governments seek to provide the least they can get away with in social security to ‘keep the natives quiet’. At the last election, our family concluded that thanks to the Coalition, there is a privileged cohort in society consisting of wealthy individuals, organisations and corporations who are growing fat by sucking at the teat of the Australian economy, at the expense of the many millions not privileged to belong to this cohort. Coalition policy at the last election amounted to no more than ensuring this cohort can continue to enjoy the benefits of our economy with minimum disruption.
There is constant downward pressure on age pensions, unemployment benefits, NDIS payments, Medicare payments, and social security payments generally. Centrelink harasses alleged recipients of over-paid social security benefits with robot debt, and now, the ATO seeks to recoup alleged overpayments of JobKeeper debts, whilst refusing to even ask, let alone asking the Government to legislate or take concrete action to recover over paid JobKeeper payments to large corporations who, surprise, surprise, are key donors to the Libs and Nats. The Coalition wailed incessantly (and successfully) during the last election campaign at Labor’s plans to reign in negative gearing and the franking credit racket, which of course played well to those wealthy enough to have investment properties, and receive share dividends. They seem to regard the plight of people who are homeless as being their own fault. And don’t get me going on their attitudes to climate change (Labor, Morrison said, are ‘declaring war on the weekend’, ‘they want take away your utes), indigenous people, refugees (that is those who can’t afford to come by plane), equal opportunity and pay for women, and a fair dinkum corruption investigator.
The Coalition Government has presided over constant cuts to our foreign aid budget. Whilst the UK government has enshrined in law a .7% target of GNI, Australia is languishing round .2%, and the foreign aid bucket is constantly raided when further savings are ‘needed’. After all, there is no-one to advocate on behalf of foreign aid.
I hear very little criticism of the style of socialism adopted by Scandinavian countries whose highly taxed citizens don’t seem to complain about the cradle to grave welfare they enjoy. One of the things that really irritates me in Australia is the unchallenged assumption that higher taxes are bad and lower taxes are good. I think it is the other way around. It has always been a mystery to me how we can expect ever improved schools, health services, roads, transport services, pensions etc., whilst ever lowering taxes. I did not do all that well at maths at school, but I reckon it just can’t be done. Brickbats to Peter Costello for constantly currying political favour by returning iron ore generated windfall taxes to taxpayers during his time as Treasurer.
I highly recommend a book called ‘The Hole in the Gospel’ by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision USA at the time the book was written (2009). It lays out the case for Christians to embrace the whole gospel, so that there are armies of compassion stations in every corner of the world doing small things with great love, working together in reclaiming the world for Christ’s kingdom.
So why are there so many Christians who think democratic socialism is so on the nose? Well I have a theory. As Paul Keating used to say, ‘in a two horse race, always back self interest’. We have some wonderful friends, whose influence on my wife and I has been profound. They are ex-Kiwis and were caught up in the charismatic renewal that so blessed NZ. I have never been able to figure out why they are so right wing — aggressively, embarrassingly so. I think it’s the hip pocket. They are self-funded retirees, and they won’t have a bar of anything that might potentially affect their retirement income. I suspect that Christians with good superannuation incomes simply can’t see past issues relating to maximizing their income. This inevitably means they are Coalition voters.
If I’m right, then of course it’s very, very sad on many fronts. It reflects on their confidence in God’s covenant faithfulness. ‘Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Or as Kenneth Wuest translates the five negative in the original Greek ‘I will not, I will not cease to sustain and uphold you. I will not, I will not, I will not let you down’. (Hebrews 13:5) And it reflects on an unwillingness to face up to ‘the hole in the gospel’. You tend to hear a lot about salvation, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and so on, but very little about our responsibility to the less well off.
I see that there are something like forty ‘Voices of . . . ’ campaigns in Australia at the moment, based on the ‘Voices of Indi’ that saw a particularly aggressive politician, Sophie Mirabella lose the seat of Indi to an independent, Kathy McGowan. If enough of these are successful to well and truly control the balance of power, one of my greatest wishes for Australian politics will have been fulfilled. That is that we should be rid, once for all, of the two party system, and instead be governed by a coalition of a variety of voices, forced to govern by compromise and negotiation. And please don’t claim that nothing will ever get done. Nothing ever gets done by the Libs as it is, other than maintaining the status quo to enable the privileged to suck at the teat of the Australian economy. All you have to do is look to such places as Scandinavia to put the lie to such infantile notions.
I guess there is one more thing I would like to say. I think the likes of Martyn Iles of the Australian Christian Lobby miss the point. They seem to act as though it is crucial to maintain Christian morals throughout society, and they seek to do it by creating a strong lobby group to argue against such things as abortion, gay marriage, constraints on employment options for Christian employers, constraints on ‘gay conversion’ ‘safe schools’ and so on. I don’t think such lobbying is the role of the church at all. The church is meant to consist of millions of outposts of small communities, found in every city, town and village throughout the world actually living out the truth of the gospel before the watching world. We are called to be agents of new creation infiltrating the present evil world, demonstrating that there is another way. But since we have failed so miserably to live up to this vision, we resort to lobbying.
In Isaiah 40:5, we are promised that ‘the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together’. New Testament scholar Tom Wright says that the establishment of small communities of Christians living the gospel throughout the world is the fulfilment of this promise — Christian communities displaying the glory of God to the watching world. And THAT is how we change the world. It is how the early Christians changed the world. I maintain that we have much more hope of fulfilling this vision in small home churches than massive hierarchical, clergy dominated, churches where ‘the laity’ are passive consumers of sermons.
I rest my case, and would be glad to be shown where I am wrong.