March 20: On Poverty
♫ Music:
Day 24 - Friday, March 20
Rung #17: ON POVERTY
Scriptures: Proverbs 15:16; James 2: 1-6; Proverbs 22:9; Matthew 5:3
Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it. My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” Have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? He who is generous with the poor will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to those in need. Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!
Poetry:
Paralysis
by Peter Boyle
Laid out flat
in the back of the station wagon my father borrowed
I look up:
the leaves are immense,
green and golden with clear summer light
breaking through –
though I turn only my neck
I can see all of them
along this avenue that has no limits.
What does it matter
that I am only eyes
if I am to be carried
so lightly
under the trees of the world?
From beyond the numbness of my strange body
the wealth of the leaves
falls forever
into my small still watching.
ON POVERTY
Although there are over 2000 verses in the Bible about the poor, the subject of poverty in the Bible is a confusing one. Is it good to be poor or not? And there is both physical poverty and spiritual poverty, which further muddles the issue. So is this a condition to be remedied or to be perpetuated? By examining the four biblical texts chosen here, we can glean several lessons:
1) Prov. 22:9—We are called to help alleviate physical poverty in others. By doing so, we will be blessed. This is the outward way of blessing. (My wife and I recently had a baby—in fact he turns 1 tomorrow!—and we named him Asher, which is Hebrew for “happy/blessed.” The use of that word here, and in the Matthew passage, naturally stood out to me.)
2) Matt. 5:3— Another way to be blessed is to recognize our spiritual poverty. This can be done by anybody, regardless of their physical situation. Spiritually poor people are the heirs to the kingdom of heaven. This is the inward way of blessing. (It should also be noted that the Lukan parallel to the Matthean Beatitudes de-spiritualizes things—it is the physically poor, not the spiritually poor, who are blessed. In point of fact, both are true.)
3) James 2:1-6—However, physically poor people are more naturally inclined to be spiritually poor because they really have to rely on God. I think of the old adage “There are no atheists in foxholes.” Or the converse is also true: physically rich people are not prone to be spiritually poor. Jesus himself said in Matt. 19:23, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.” This is the link between outward and inward poverty.
4) Prov. 15:16—If physical riches are compromising your soul, as is their wont (like Lord Acton’s famous dictum, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”), then it’s better to choose physical poverty in the end so that your spiritual side remains healthy. I think of Jesus’s words in Matt. 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” However, I think it’s important to note that this has to be a personal choice, like a monk who takes a vow of simplicity. The point is not that—if we see someone starving—we should celebrate that or leave them like that because it’s somehow good for their soul. That is not our call to make for them. It is, however, God’s command for us to help them, and that is good for our soul. But if someone voluntarily chooses a lifestyle of physical asceticism in an effort to raise their spirituality, that is commendable.
One final note: we are called (in the James passage) to never show favoritism or discrimination. In fact, we are called to sit with anyone, regardless of their station, as the artwork and music adjure us to do. Because remember: the person who is physically poorer than you may be much nearer the kingdom than you, so it behooves us all to be spiritually poor (humble, or generous to those in need). Then we will be blessed.
Prayer:
Our prayer comes from Mary (Luke 1:46-55, italics mine), the person in the Bible most described as “blessed”:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
Dr. Allen Yeh
Associate Professor of Missiology
Cook School of Intercultural Studies
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, poetry, and devotional writer selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
To learn more about the themes of this year’s Lent Project, please go to:
https://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2020/#day-feb-25
About the Art:
Church Benches
Chinese Village Churches Series
2004-2008
Yuanming Cao
Digital print on metal
76.2cm x 101.6cm x 2 cm
From the Matter + Spirit: A Chinese/American Exhibition
Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity
This work belongs to an extensive series of artworks the artist produced as a result of a field study on Chinese rural churches in Suzhou region, Anhui Province. The artist produced this series from 2004-2009 while he was a philosophy student. For his research he visited more than 600 countryside churches and collected a large number of documents and other resources. Church Benches is an indexical work in a whole series that documented church doorways, church interiors, and other aspects displaying the unity and diversity of these rural congregations. The simplicity of these church stools reflects the humble life of the congregants and seem to take on the forms of individual people--some straight and tall, some short and squat, one askew with legs broken. These stools represent the faithful followers who sit on them in worship as powerfully as any portrait.
About the Artist:
Yuanming Cao (also known as Cao Zaifei) is an artist who works with painting, sculpture, installation, and digital imaging. Born in 1974 in Suzhou, Anhui Province, China, he graduated from the Department of Oil Painting of Nanjing Academy of Arts and the Department of Philosophy of Nanjing University. He was a visiting scholar at the Research Center for Religion and Chinese Society in Purdue University and currently teaches at the School of Fine Arts in Shanghai University.
About the Music:
“Seated With Sinners” from the album Authenticity
The Lyrics:
"Oh, you righteous man,
Where does your salvation come from?
It's unearned and undeserved.
Has your arrogance and your pride
Caused you to despise what
Still needs to be done here
Even in the darkest of atmospheres?
Who says I can't be found in a hospital?
Who says I can't be found in the midst of a war?
And you'll find Me in the darkest corners of humanity
Where no man dares to go,
For who can know the human soul like the Maker can?
You'll find Me where you forget there still lies a need at a
Table seated with sinners
Reachin' out to thieves and tax collectors
Oh, the view from My eyes
Is a world in need of grace.
Oh, you starving people
You don't know what it is you long for.
It's a thirst-quenching well of water
You yourself cannot provide!
You look for truth in empty spaces, dark places
And your mouths are thirsty and dry.
Who says I can't restore a dying marriage?
Who are you to say I can't redeem a broken home?
You'll find Me in the darkest corners of humanity
Where no man dares to go,
For who can know the human soul like the Maker can?
You'll find Me where you forget there still lies a need
In your own hearts and minds if you would search for Me.
In your churches I'm still existing,
In your congregations still dwelling,
In your hurt I'm still mending,
Your broken homes I'm restoring.
For the outcast I am claiming,
For the prodigal I am still chasing,
For the pretenders I am reality
And I'm standing here with My arms waving!
Don't you see the hurting people in need,
All the lonely people in need,
And that you are the people in need?
About the Composer/Performer/Lyricist:
California native Madison Cunningham possesses a keen understanding of songcraft. With an ear for melody that is reminiscent of an early Joni Mitchell and an approach to guitar and vocals similar to Jeff Buckley or Nick Drake, Madison exhibits a unique ability to keep the listener on the edge. The oldest of five daughters, Madison picked up a guitar at the age of seven and was singing with her sisters and family in church by the age of twelve. She currently tours around the country and has collaborated with Nickel Creek, Iron and Wine, Calexico, and Andrew Bird. She has also been part of both projects from sacred arts collective The Porter’s Gate. Cunningham appears often with Chris Thile on Live from Here (formerly A Prairie Home Companion). Her latest EP, Who Are You Now, was released in 2019.
http://www.madisoncunningham.com/
About the Poet:
Peter Boyle (b. 1951) is an Australian poet and translator. He has published nine collections of poetry, including Coming Home from the world, The Blue Cloud of Crying, What the painter saw in our faces, Museum of Space, and The Apocrypha of William O’Shaunessy. Boyle has also published translations of Federico García Lorca, Luis Cernuda, Eugenio Montejo, César Vallejo, Pierre Reverdy, and others. Boyle’s translations have also appeared in the journals Jubilat and American Poetry Review. He started writing poetry in his teens, in part, as a way to grapple with the effects of childhood polio. He earned an honors degree in English from Sydney University, a Diploma of Education and an MA in Spanish and Latin American Studies. Boyle’s work contemplates language and history. Boyle’s awards include a New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award, a National Book Council Banjo Award, and a South Australian Festival Award for Poetry.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/peter-boyle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Boyle_(poet)
About the Devotion Writer:
Dr. Allen Yeh
Associate Professor of Missiology
Cook School of Intercultural Studies
Biola University
Dr. Allen Yeh is Associate Professor of Missiology at the Cook School of Intercultural Studies at Biola University. Yeh earned his BA from Yale, MDiv from Gordon-Conwell, MTh from Edinburgh, and DPhil from Oxford University. Despite this alphabet soup, he believes that experience is the greatest teacher of all (besides the Bible). As such, Allen has been to over 60 countries on every continent, to study, do missions work, and experience the culture. He is the author of Polycentric Missiology: 21st- Century Mission from Everyone to Everywhere (IVP Academic, 2016).