On the poor and needy

When someone steals a man’s clothes, we call him a thief. Shouldn’t we give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? — St. Basil the Great (AD 330-379)

From Ancient Faith Ministries

It isn’t because the affluent are unable to provide food easily that men go hungry. It is because the affluent are cruel and inhumane. — St. John Chrysostom (AD 347-407), Homily 66 on Matthew

From Ancient Faith Ministries

You have and eat; give each day to someone who is poor to eat also. — St. Raphael of Lesvos (15th century)

From Ancient Faith Ministries

While you are anxious about your wealth being diminished, you do not see that you yourself are being diminished. — St. Cyprian of Carthage (AD 210-258), On Works and Alms, Treatise 8

From Ancient Faith Ministries

He who gives alms in imitation of God does not discriminate between the wicked and the virtuous, the just and the unjust, when providing for men’s bodily needs. — St. Maximus the Confessor (AD 580-662)

From Ancient Faith Ministries

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

Lev. 23:22, NKJV

If one of your brethren becomes poor and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.

Lev. 25:35, NKJV

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Jam. 2:14-17, NKJV

Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

James 5:4-6, NKJV

More and more Ancient Faith Ministries has begun quoting the Early Church Fathers concerning issues of poverty and wealth. I have added a couple of quotes from the Bible. What one can see is that there is a rich history from the Old Testament through the New Testament through the Early Church Fathers, all the way into the modern saints, of strong words concerning the duty of the rich concerning the poor.

Notice that I said “duty.” One does not find in that whole storied length the idea that the donations are simply free-will charity. Rather, the consistent witness from the Old Testament through the modern saints is that you have enough liberty to make the right choice. But, if you do not make the right choice, there is a certain doom that awaits you. This is about the same status as is given the choice to follow Jesus Christ as Lord. You have enough liberty to make the right choice, but if you do not then an unpleasant end awaits you.

For those who claim that it cannot be done by way of taxes, notice that the Law of the Old Testament required you to not harvest certain parts of your field so that the poor, and the animals, might feed from it. That is, you labored but a portion of your gains were mandated for the poor and for ecological concerns. In other words, you were taxed for the poor.

St. James’ concern is even more interesting, for there he does not write about the unemployed poor, but the employed poor. And he condemns in a vituperous manner those who pay an insufficient wage. A modern way to say it is that St. James is advocating for a living wage. Failure to pay a living wage also may doom you to a bitter end. Here one only needs to think of the parable of Lazarus and Dives to see what is meant. Think of this as a mandated minimum wage whose amount is enough to provide a living wage. In passing, in those days the husband worked while the wife was at home doing the onerous manual household work. Thus, a living wage would be enough for one person in a family to work and provide for their family in a generously adequate way. Anything short of that would appear to violate Scripture, would it not?

What one does not find in either Scripture or Holy Tradition is any argument that the money I earn is purely mine. Rather the opposite. From the Old Testament through, it is clear that you are to give cheerfully to the Temple, then to the poor. One did not only pay a tithe to the Temple in the Old Testament, one also turned over the edges of their field to the poor. There was also the tax by the King and the mandatory selective service. While I could go on, by now you should be aware that the idea that it is all yours is quite ungodly.

Does this mean that it is wrong to be rich? No, nowhere does it say that. As with many issues, it is how you use it not whether you have it. Thus, there are many examples of faithful rich people in Scripture, from Abraham through Joseph through Nicodemus through Joseph of Arimathea. But what makes them faithful is that they not only followed God, but that they also used their riches and power in the correct way. Thus, Abraham gives hospitality freely to strangers. Joseph uses his power to begin the granary system that saves so many from starvation during the time of famine. Both Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea freely give from what they have even to giving away one’s own family tomb.

What you do not find is any praise to someone for merely being rich. The merely rich are often condemned. And, by condemned I do not mean merely disapprobation but rather the certainty of doom on them. What you also do not find is that the rich has any full right to their riches. Rather, the argument is often made that one was made rich so that he or she may give more generously. The Old Testament Law, which was a teaching tool according to St. Paul, even mandated the edges of the field being kept for the poor so that we might learn that we are to give and that our money is not fully ours.

I can make an even stronger point. The Epistle of St. James makes it clear that it is the rich who are the takers, not the poor. It is the rich who have used their power to pervert justice and to hoard their riches rather than paying adequate wages and giving to the poor. Of the poor, St. James echoes Our Lord when he says, “Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen 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.” (James 2:5-6a, NKJV). Read the next two verses to read what St. James says about the rich who do not pay adequate wages and do not give. It is not pleasant.

So, when you talk about takers and taxes, when you talk about what you earned being stolen, be very careful. Scripture and Tradition say that it is the rich who are the thieves and the poor who have been robbed.

Finally, I would agree with you that our money needs to be spent in a financially consistent and appropriate way. But, when you use finances to again avoid your money being “taken” you are again falling into the it’s my money syndrome. The Old Testament believer had no part in deciding how either the Temple or the King would spend their money. Neither did they have a part in deciding who would harvest the edges of their field. Be careful not to use financial accountability as an excuse to hoard your money. We live in a representative democracy, which means we have much more voice in how our money is used. But, do not use that as a reason to hoard your money.