On Sunday at Crossroads we looked at the sixth "Sign" in John's gospel, the healing of a man born blind. We linked the actions of Jesus back to Isaiah, who saw the promised Messaih as the one who would open the eyes of the blind. Homing in on Jesus' confrontation with the religious leaders of his day, though, we also saw that Isaiah promises judgement. The Messaih will give sight to blind eyes, but he will also bring judgement against those who claim to have sight but do not. Jesus refers to this double-edged sending in the later stages of this incident, recorded in John 9. We asked the question What is the judgement that the coming of the Messiah brings to us? And we noticed that for Isaiah judgement is associated with the way we have responded to the poor - hence Jesus head-on collision with the Jewish leaders over the way they have treated this blind man.
This led to a dialogue between Carloine Baxter and me, which I thought it might be useful to post here.
Caroline:
I very much identify with what you said about God's judgment of people being based on how they respond to the poor... it actually makes me think of one of your heros, Bono, and Make Poverty History. But there is something that bugs me. Suppose we say that each of us takes the challenge to "do something for the poor". That implies that there is always someone worse off than us, and following that to its conclusion means there will be someone at the bottom of the "poverty food chain". What about them? What about if WE are the poor? What is God's purpose for us in this area? Are "the poor" simply poor to enable richer people to respond to them? What about if we apply the same analogy of poverty to pain and suffering? Again, we can most likely find someone suffering more than we are, but there will ultimately be someone who is the worst off of all. Is God's plan for them just so that other people can "use" them to practice compassion, so that God can teach other people how to treat them? It makes it sound like God using some people as experimental subjects for others. That just doesn't sound like much of a message of hope to bring to those who are poor and suffering and in pain. I know life isn't fair, but my understanding of the Gospel is that it is GOOD news, and good news to ALL who receive it. After all, Isaiah 61 talks about preaching good news to the poor and binding up the broken-hearted.
GK:
I appreciate your questions and have wrestled with the same ones often. Here are some random thoughts in that direction...
1. I think of it this way.... God looks to the way we treat those more vulnerable than us as an indication of where our heart is at... a 'sign' that we have understood and embraced his character is that we will repond well to those who cannot force us to do so. This might be in terms of welath, or power. It might be a family relationship, an economic or political one; employment etc. In every relationship there is an imbalance of power and privilege - and responding to this is the conundrum that God has set for his human friends to engage with...
2. I don't think there is a 'chain of poverty'. I think it is a circle, or a sphere.. What I mean is that just when you think you've found the person 'at the bottom', you discover that there are aspects of their life in which they are actually the oppressor and not the oppressed. The dirt-poor man who mistreats his wife and children; the terminally ill patient who manipulates care. No-one is so entirely a victim that they do not have responsibility, nor is anyone so entirely responsible that they are never a victim..
3. In this light, God's judgement actually gives us dignity.. If the poor beggar is only a victim, and can never be held responsible, before God, for how she has treated others, then she loses all human dignity. By calling us to account, even when we are poor and downtrodden, God reminds us of the high place we have in his purposes. Judgement is an expression of love and respect. Wierd, huh?
4. Lastly, the idea that God 'creates poor people' to test us out is a complex one that is both true and not true of the witness of Scripture. What I was getting at on Sunday is that Jesus refuses to answer the ontological question 'why is thus person suffering?' - their story is their story, and it is not for me to use it for theological target-practise. But in my story, at this moment they exist as an opportunity to express love and mercy, and it is for my story that I am responsible. Interestingly in John 9, there is a later phase of the drama in which the 'blind' Pharisees are put in a position where they can choose to receive blessing from the (ex) blind beggar - but they refuse to do so. They fail to see both the opportunities God gives them - the opportunity to give love AND the opportunity to receive it. Today you might exist in my story as an opportunity for me to show love: but in other ways, at the same or another time, I might exist in your story as an opportunity for you to show love to me.
Jesus' challenge to us is (relatively) simple - when it is time to give love - give love. When it is time to receive love - receive love. And don't insist that anyone spends all of their time in either place.
