Part 6 (1/2)

His to-do list? Help for the body and soul, strength for the physical and the spiritual, therapy for the temporal and eternal. ”This is my mission statement,” Jesus declared. The Nazareth Manifesto.

Preach the gospel to the poor.

Heal the brokenhearted.

Proclaim liberty to the captives.

Proclaim recovery of sight to the blind.

Set at liberty those who are oppressed.

And proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

”Acceptable year of the LORD” describes, perhaps more than any other words, Jesus' radical commitment to the poor. They are reminiscent of the year of Jubilee, a twice-in-a-century celebration intended to press the restart b.u.t.ton on the machinery of justice.2 Beginning on the Day of Atonement, all the fields were allowed to rest. No farming permitted. The fallow land could recover from forty-nine years of planting and harvesting.

In addition, all the slaves were freed. Anyone who had been sold into slavery or who had sold himself into slavery to pay off debt was released. Bondage ended.

And as if the soil sabbatical and slave emanc.i.p.ation weren't enough, all property was returned to its original owners. In the agricultural society, land was capital. Families could lose their land through calamity, sickness, or even laziness. The Jubilee provision guaranteed that every family, at least twice a century, would have the opportunity to get back on its feet.

Consider the impact of this Jubilee decree. A drought destroys a farmer's crop and leaves the family impoverished. In order to survive, the farmer decides to sell his property and hire out as a day laborer. A sharp investor swoops into the region and buys the farm and also a neighbor's. Within short order the developer has a monopoly, and the farmer has nothing but a prayer.

But then comes the year of Jubilee, what one scholar described as a ”regularly scheduled revolution.”3 G.o.d shakes the social Etch A Sketch, and everyone is given a clean slate. This injunction was intended to prevent a permanent undercla.s.s of poverty and slavery. People could still be rich, very rich, but they could not build their wealth on the backs of the very poor.

As far as we know, the people of Israel never practiced the year of Jubilee. Still, Jesus alluded to it in his inaugural address. What does this say about G.o.d's heart? At least this: he values a level playing field. In his society the Have-a-Lots and the Have-a-Littles are never to be so far apart that they can't see each other.

Can they see each other today?

Not very well. According to a United Nations Human Development Report, three-quarters of the world's income goes to 20 percent of the world's population.4 Statistics can stagnate, so try this word picture.

Ten dairy farmers occupy the same valley. Among them, they own ten milk cows. But the cows aren't evenly distributed among the ten farmers-not one cow to one farmer. It's more like this: two of the farmers own eight cows, and the other eight farmers share two cows. Does that seem fair?

The two of us who own the eight cows might say, ”I worked for my cows.” Or ”It's not my fault that we have more cows.” Perhaps we should try this question: Why do a few of us have so much and most of us have so little?

I spent the better part of a morning pondering such a question on the Ethiopian farm of Dadhi. Dadhi is a st.u.r.dy but struggling husband and father. His dirt-floored mud hut would fit easily in my garage. His wife's handwoven baskets decorate his walls. Straw mats are rolled and stored against the sides, awaiting nightfall when all seven family members will sleep on them. Dadhi's five children smile quickly and hug tightly. They don't know how poor they are.

Dadhi does. He earns less than a dollar a day at a nearby farm. He'd work his own land, except a plague took the life of his ox. His only one. With no ox, he can't plow. With no plowed field, he can't sow a crop. If he can't sow a crop, he can't harvest one.

All he needs is an ox.

Dadhi is energetic and industrious. He has mastered a trade and been faithful to his wife. He's committed no crimes. Neighbors respect him. He seems every bit as intelligent as I am, likely more so. He and I share the same aspirations and dreams. I scribbled out a chart, listing our many mutual attributes.

Attributes Dadhi Max Physically able X X Willing to work X X Trained to do a job X X Loves family X X Sober and drug free X X Good reputation X You tell me We have much in common. Then why the disparity? Why does it take Dadhi a year to earn what I can spend on a sport coat?

Part of the complex answer is this: he was born in the wrong place. He is, as Bono said, ”an accident of lat.i.tude.”5 A lat.i.tude void of unemployment insurance, disability payments, college grants, Social Security, and government supplements. A lat.i.tude largely vacant of libraries, vaccinations, clean water, and paved roads. I benefited from each of those. Dadhi has none of them.

In the game of life, many of us who cross home plate do so because we were born on third base. Others aren't even on a team.

You don't have to travel sixteen hours in a plane to find a Dadhi or two. They live in the convalescent home you pa.s.s on the way to work, gather at the unemployment office on the corner. They are the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, and the blind.

Some people are poor because they are lazy. They need to get off their duffs. Others, however, are poor because parasites weaken their bodies, because they spend six hours a day collecting water, because rebel armies ravaged their farms, or because AIDS took their parents.

Couldn't such people use a bit of Jubilee?

Of course they could. So . . .

First, let the church act on behalf of the poor. The apostles did. ”So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers” (Acts 6:2 NLT). They a.s.sembled the entire church. The problem of inequity warranted a churchwide conversation. The leaders wanted every member to know that this church took poverty seriously. The ultimate solution to poverty is found in the compa.s.sion of G.o.d's people. Scripture endorses not forced communism but Spirit-led volunteerism among G.o.d's people.

Second, let the brightest among us direct us. ”And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility” (v. 3 NLT).

The first church meeting led to the first task force. The apostles unleashed their best people on their biggest problem. The challenge demands this. ”Poverty,” as Rich Stearns, president of World Vision in the United States, told me, ”is rocket science.” Simple solutions simply don't exist. Most of us don't know what to do about the avalanche of national debt, the withholding of lifesaving medicines, the corruption at the seaports, and the abduction of children. Most of us don't know what to do, but someone does!

Some people are pouring every ounce of G.o.d-given wisdom into the resolution of these problems. We need specialist organizations, such as World Vision, Compa.s.sion International, Living Water, and International Justice Mission. We need our brightest and best to continue the legacy of the Jerusalem task force of Acts 6.

And one more idea. Get ticked off. Riled up enough to respond. Righteous anger would do a world of good. Poverty is not the lack of charity but the lack of justice. Why do two of us have eight cows while the rest of us have two? Why do a billion people go to bed hungry every night?6 Why do nearly thirty thousand children die every day, one every three seconds, from hunger and preventable diseases?7 It's just not fair. Why not do something about it?

Again, no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Some people can fast and pray about social sin. Others can study and speak out. What about you? Get out of your comfort zone for Christ's sake. Why not teach an inner-city Bible study? Use your vacation to build houses in hurricane-ravaged towns? Run for public office? Help a farmer get an ox?

Speaking of which, I received a note from Dadhi the other day. It included a photo of him and a new family member. A new three-hundred-pound, four-legged family member. Both of them were smiling. I'm thinking G.o.d was too.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of G.o.d the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

(James 1:27 NLT) Dear Lord, you promised we would always have the poor among us. Help me to make sure that the reverse is also true: that I am always among the poor-helping, encouraging, and lending a hand wherever I can. Enable me to love the invisible G.o.d by serving the very visible poor in my corner of the world. Help me to be creative without being condescending, encouraging without being egotistic, and fearless without being foolish. May the poor bless you because of me, and may my efforts somehow reduce the number of the poor. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

CHAPTER 11.

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