American

Kind to the Poor, Lend to the Lord

Screen Shot 2016-08-20 at 12.46.42 PMSo reads Proverbs 19:17: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.” That line can be unpacked to challenge our lack of charity today; our lack of trust that an act of charity toward the poor is an investment in the ways of God, an investment in the generosity of God, in the generous God who returns our charity with graces of charity beyond our imagination.

Instead of calculating our act of charity in terms of investment and return, we are to calculate our charity as an act of faith in a generous God more than worthy of our trust.

In his book called Charity, Gary Anderson connects the act of charity with the act of faith. They are mutually interactive, each informing the other and each forming the character of the actor. Thus,

Faith, we shall discover, is not reducible to mere intellectual assent, it is also a specific way of enacting one’s life in the world. And it is from this pattern of enactment that a metaphysical portrait of the world begins to take shape (37).

To give to the poor, he argues, is an expression of faith and in the way the world works for that person of faith. Anderson is right. We need, in other words, a phenomenology of charity. He observes that in securing a loan today the bank/banker must become our creditor (that is, one who believes [creditor is connected to credo, creed] in the borrower). Faith in the other is inherent to the banking business, and our verse above from Proverbs partakes in that phenomenology: a person who gives money to the poor believes in the Lord who will repay in one form or another. (Read 1 Samuel 22:2: “All those who were in distress or in debt [“had a believer”] or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.”)

His focus is the Jewish text Sirach, which in 29:1-3, connects merciful in lending to neighbors, paying off one’s debts, and the future security for those who are honest in such a system of crediting and payments. There is a risk to the lender (keep your eye on giving to poor as lending to God) as 29:4-7 show:

Many regard a loan as a windfall, and cause trouble to those who help them. 5 One kisses another’s hands until he gets a loan, and is deferential in speaking of his neighbor’s money; but at the time for repayment he delays, and pays back with empty promises, and finds fault with the time. 6 If he can pay, his creditor will hardly get back half, and will regard that as a windfall. If he cannot pay, the borrower has robbed the other of his money, and he has needlessly made him an enemy; he will repay him with curses and reproaches, and instead of glory will repay him with dishonor. 7 Many refuse to lend, not because of meanness, but from fear of being defrauded needlessly.

Hence, those who vouched for for the borrower (29:14-20).

But Ben Sira understands charity to the poor to be a kind of loan through the poor to God. There is profound faith involved here because the donor here often knows the poor cannot repay, or at least probably will not be able to repay. In Sirach 29:8-13 then charity is reconceptualized into loans to God with the incumbent risk shifted into faith in God. Here is the text:

8 Nevertheless, be patient with someone in humble circumstances, and do not keep him waiting for your alms. 9 Help the poor for the commandment’s sake, and in their need do not send them away empty-handed. 10 Lose your silver for the sake of a brother or a friend, and do not let it rust under a stone and be lost. 11Lay up your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, and it will profit you more than gold. 12 Store up almsgiving in your treasury, and it will rescue you from every disaster; 13 better than a stout shield and a sturdy spear, it will fight for you against the enemy.

The italicized words reveal the reconceptualizing of charity: it is giving/loaning to God and God can be trusted. The poor person then is a “conduit” to God.

As anyone knows, one of the best strategies for dealing with the uncertainties that the future might offer is the accumulation of at least a modest nest egg. In our day, this would mean minimally funding a retirement account so that when one enters one’s dotage and can no longer work, there will be funds available to cover living expenses. In Ben Sira’s mind, the surest way to deal with such worries about what Lady Fortune might have on offer was to fund a heavenly treasury. For God Almighty himself has promised that these “monies” will rescue one from any and all affliction. “Store up almsgiving in your treasury,” Ben Sira concludes, “and it will rescue you from every disaster; better than a stout shield and a sturdy spear, it will fight for you against the enemy (49).

Original Article

Post Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.