Helping Without Hurting: The Bible and the PoorSample

Why Jesus Came

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Col. 1:19-20)

Piety. In his book The Last Days: A Son’s Story of Sin and Segregation at the Dawn of the New South, Charles Marsh describes growing up as the son of a pastor in Laurel, Mississippi, during the 1960s. Racial tensions and oppression were acute, with lynchings and cross-burnings in the news. Reverend Marsh faithfully proclaimed the gospel. Yet while he loathed the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, he did not regard the work of the Lord as including pronouncements on racial injustice and violence. Marsh said these were political matters “having little or nothing to do with the spiritual geography of a pilgrim’s journey to paradise.” But this is a hollow, half-version of the gospel.

Kingdom. The gospel is not good news of personal salvation and a call to individual piety or holiness. It is a proclamation and call to demonstrate God’s kingdom work to the world. Jesus came to “reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” His business is in undoing the effects of sin, “as far as the curse is found.” Sin brought about separation between God and man, but also broke people’s relationships with each other, themselves, and the creation itself. Christ came to heal the spiritual, social, physical, and psychological fallout from sin. While the full benefits of the kingdom are only for those who believe, His work impacts all aspects of His creation.

Reconciliation. If the mission of Jesus was to preach the good news of the Kingdom in word and deed, then so too is our mission. God calls us to be ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:20), preaching the gospel in both word and deed. We are called to bring Christ’s reconciling work to bear on all the effects of sin on individuals and social systems. We seek a Christ-centered, fully orbed, kingdom perspective on what poverty alleviation entails.

Jesus, give us Your Kingdom vision for both our lives and those of the materially poor. Let us see the deep effects of sin on the whole person and community, and then be ambassadors of Your reconciling work.