“Whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” —Proverbs 14:31
Last Sunday was a study in contrasts. Watching the tribute to America that preceded the Superbowl, I teared up at the reading of the constitution. Watching Colin Powell and others recite the premises on which our nation is founded, I was filled with patriotism, pride, and hope. What a great country!
Just a few hours earlier, while doing my pre-game grocery shopping, this was not what I was thinking. I wonder if Colin Powell has ever been to the Platte Avenue Walmart?
I’m pretty sure it’s my least favorite place on earth. By its standards, I should be a grandma. It seems that every tattooed, pierced 20-year-old in the store is toting a kid or two, and usually they’re shouting at them. I have seen men proposition women in the produce aisle. (I’m not kidding.) Nearly every time I go I am asked for money in the parking lot by some man who has his every possession strapped to his back.
So why do I go there? Because this is where the poor hang out, and God says whoever is kind to the needy honors Him. So I go to be kind. I don’t preach on the sidewalks or talk about Jesus with everyone I see, but I try to be kind. That may sound noble, but not when you hear what’s going on inside my head. Inside, I’m whining and judging and sinning all over the place. It’s so much easier to love the abstract poor than the real poor.
These are a few of the questions—stumbling blocks, really—that occur to me as I stand in line at Walmart, listening to my “neighbors” discuss the tattooes of previous lovers they wish they could get rid of:
• Are these people really even “the poor”? They’re hauling out TVs nicer than I’ll ever own, and their cell phones look like they require an engineering degree. Are you sure these are the people I’m supposed to love, God?
• It’s so much easier to care for the poor in Africa or India. Can’t I just send a check and keep shopping at Safeway?
• Are we really fighting wars to protect the liberties of these people? So they can have babies at 15 and fill up on medical marijuana and cover their bodies in pornography? Is this really my America? Are these people really my neighbors? Do I really have to care about them?
But God’s answer is clear: “Command those who are rich in this present world [and yes, that’s me, even though my pockets are filled with coupons and I put back the raspberries that were just too expensive] not to be arrogant [judging and condemning, in other words]. . . . Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
In other words, yes, these are your neighbors that you should love as yourself, yes these are the needy, and yes, I expect you to be kind and generous with them. God gave this command millennia ago, but even then He had the Platte Avenue Walmart in mind.
