Open Wide Your Hand – Sharing God’s Love with the Homeless

by Adam Chandler

“For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have Me…” (Matthew 26:11). Christ Himself declares there will always be poverty. We can feel helpless, as a result, when we consider the prospects of helping the impoverished and homeless. After all, why bother trying to help a homeless person if there will always be another dozen people you can’t help? But when we consider the issue from a biblical perspective, we know that helping the homeless is never a pointless endeavour. 

The causes of homelessness are many. Homes cost money. Land costs money. Therefore, poverty is inextricably linked to homelessness. Low-paying jobs and a lack of affordable housing are also major contributors to homelessness. Ill-health—both physical and mental—can make paying rent harder, especially if you have multiple illnesses. Substance abuse can lead to mismanagement of money as well as property. Domestic violence and unstable households can also leave people on the streets, not to mention natural disasters which can claim entire buildings. 

In the Bible, of course, not all of these causes of homelessness are directly addressed. In fact, the Hebrew people had a fundamentally different relationship to the land. For starters, the Israelites did not really “own” the land; the whole of the land belonged to God (Leviticus 25:23). But He granted the people use of the land for their families as an eternal inheritance on the condition that the people remain in the Lord. Even if the land were sold, it would automatically be returned to the family which sold it in the Jubilee year on the Hebrew calendar (Leviticus 25:29-30). After a period of time farming the property, it must be given back to its family of origin. Even so, homelessness is an issue that could arise in ancient Israel. For example, the book of Ruth describes a famine which caused Naomi’s husband to sell their land. Normally, such land should have reverted to the male inheritors in the family; but Naomi’s husband and sons died before this occurred, leaving Naomi homeless for a time.

Whether we look at homelessness in the past or in the present, it’s easy to see how homelessness leads to great suffering. Both in its causes and in its effects, we can see homelessness linked to death, natural disasters, substance abuse, broken relationships, and health problems. In all these things, one common theme emerges: sin. Death and suffering have their origin in sin (Genesis 2:16-17; Romans 6:23). All illnesses, disasters, and other griefs of this world find their root in the corruption into which creation fell with Adam and Eve’s sin (cf. Genesis 3:17-19). Therefore, it is through sin—both the broader effects of sin in this world and sometimes through personal sin—that homelessness has come about in this world.

The good news is that God has fashioned a solution to the problem of sin—for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, has died on a cross to take away sin. The solution to homelessness, then—as for all sin and suffering in this world—is Christ Himself. And yet, while Christ has taken away the guilt of sin, we still see the consequences of it in this broken world. Indeed, sin will continue to plague our world until Christ comes again and all things are made new. When He refashions the creation in the new heavens and the new earth, then the former things will pass away (Revelation 21:1-4)—death, mourning, and also homelessness. But until this time comes—Amen, come Lord Jesus!—the world will continue in tribulation. Christ has indeed overcome the world and its sin by the cross; but we await the final revelation of that victory, when all the effects of sin, including homelessness, are finally stamped out, as death is overturned in resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). 

The fight against homelessness is not about solving an unsolvable problem but to do as much good as we can for those who are afflicted by it.

But doesn’t this leave us where we started? With the problem of homelessness being unsolvable until the age to come? Not exactly. We should remember that, when Jesus declares that we will always have the poor with us, He is likely alluding to Deuteronomy 15:11. There we read: “For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’”

God Himself declares: the homeless will always be with you… so generously help them! The fight against homelessness is not about solving an unsolvable problem but to do as much good as we can for those who are afflicted by it. The Church’s mission has always been to offer Christ’s grace to souls suffering from sin and its evils. Therefore, our focus should always be on helping the person in front of us in Christ. There will always be more people standing in line for help; but we can at least love the person standing in front of us with the love of Christ.

We can love the vulnerable in our communities with the love of Christ. These are people for whom our Lord died—people whom we want to see in heaven alongside us when all of us are finally freed from sin and shame. And these things require a deeper answer than mere economic programs. We know homelessness will persist regardless of how much money, housing, and legislation is thrown at the problem. We also need to treat the spiritual crisis at the heart of things and share Christ in Word and deed as we come alongside the homeless. Then—when we see our Lord in His kingdom, and He tells us He was hungry and we gave Him food; that He was thirsty and we gave Him drink; that He was a stranger and we welcomed Him—then, we will understand that what we did for the least of the people in our community was done in the name of and to the glory of Christ (Matthew 25:35-40).

As we carry on that act of love, we can look to the Bible for examples of how God has instructed His people to care for the poor and homeless. Consider the Old Testament instructions about gleaning fields. When Israelites worked the land, they never harvested their crops right to the edge of the field. Instead, they would leave some produce behind, so that the poor and the sojourners could eat it (Leviticus 23:22). The land, after all, was God’s gift to His people—and its bounty was to extend to all people freely. Even foreigners in Israel who could never inherit land were nevertheless permitted to benefit from what the Lord provides (Ruth 2).

Many of us today, of course, are not farmers; and even if you are, you would not be expecting homeless encampments established on the edges of your fields ready to glean what you leave behind. Most homeless are living in the cities. So, what we can do is take a portion of what God provides us—our income, our time, and our strength—to give to charity.

The Old Testament also provided a solution to poverty in the form of temporary, indentured servitude (Deuteronomy 15:12-18), in which a Hebrew could hire himself out temporarily as a servant for a period of six years. This practice was very different from the slavery practiced in other ancient cultures or in recent North American history. During the period of service, the Hebrew servant would be provided with shelter, clothing, and food. In the seventh year, he or she would be set free—and such servants were not to be sent away “empty-handed,” either. Instead, they were to be provided “liberally” with goods and provisions by the person they had served—in essence, providing them what they needed for a new start.

Like gleaning fields, this temporary servitude does not have a direct parallel to modern society. But Christians today can certainly help the homeless in finding gainful employment. Some churches might even run small businesses—perhaps a charity shop—where they could hire staff from the streets, teaching them employable skills like customer service and how to manage the money they earn.

In the New Testament, early Christians even sold their property and gave it to the poor (Acts 4:32-37). This allowed the community to distribute goods and money as needed, with designated members of the church ministering to these needs (cf. Acts 6:1-6). Congregations today can also appoint people to help the church assist those in need. Not everyone can give money, but those who can should. Not everyone will evangelize to the homeless, but some should. And not everyone will serve soup and sandwiches, or distribute goods to the poor in our churches, but some should. There are also many Christian organizations which have been formed with these goals in mind, which we are free to support. What can you do?

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Rev. Adam Chandler is pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Victoria, B.C.

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