You Do It
By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages. Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
-- Mark 6:35-37
If you want to start a ruckus between Democrats and Republicans, between liberals and conservatives, just start talking about the poor. It doesn’t even matter if you’re a Christian or not. If fact, some of the hardest hearts on this issue belong to conservative Christians.
Not that it matters because neither side really seems to understand what Jesus preached to us all. It’s not that they haven’t read the words time and again. It’s just that they want someone else to do it. The liberals want the government to provide for the poor. Some conservatives want the churches to take care of this need. Other conservatives follow that survival-of-the-fittest mentality and want folks to take care of themselves or go away.
Jesus didn’t stand on a mountaintop and proclaim that the government should feed the hungry. He didn’t walk through the villages telling the church leaders to take care of the poor. Nor did he shove these people away. Jesus told His followers -- and all who would listen -- to take care of those in need themselves.
“You” is a powerful word. It makes us look right and left and anywhere but at the person making the uncomfortable statement. We don’t want to feed the hungry. We don’t want to pay to help the poor. We don’t want to see the homeless in our midst. We don’t want to get dirty by tending to the less fortunate.
Oh, we’re quick to pray about it. Maybe we’ll even reach out to someone recently laid off or going through a serious illness. But not for long and not if it takes a great deal of time, money or effort. We want the quick fix and the pat on the back, then we’re off to something more enjoyable. Like spending some of our hard-earned money on ourselves or our families.
Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” -- Matthew 15:32
Compassion. Jesus had compassion on the people who came to Him -- the hungry, the lame, the outcasts. He didn’t condemn them. He didn’t judge them. He loved them. He showed them kindness. Jesus never turned them away. So why do we?
Sometimes the issues of the poor, the homeless, the sick, just seem so overwhelming. Where do we start? How can we afford to tackle a problem so big? And who should head it up -- the church or the government?
Why make it so complicated? Or divisive? “You” do what you can, where you are. And “you,” over there, do the same. Let Jesus multiply all those who step up. Because while “you” might not be able to feed thousands, Jesus certainly
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