The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us

“The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us”

By Rev. Marjorie Nunes

Hicksville UMC

Long Island East District

Hope for the Poor – Let’s look at several scriptures regarding the poor and how we are called to take care of them.

Deuteronomy 15:11 – “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brother (and sister) and towards the poor and needy in the land.”

Proverbs 19:17 – “The person who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.”

Luke 4:18 – Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to claim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Thus, we have the scriptural mandate on how we should care for the poor:

a)      Be openhanded (not tight-fisted) towards the poor and needy.

b)      Be kind to the poor since when we do that, we lend to the Lord – and the Lord will reward us.

c)       Preach the good news of the amazing grace and the love of Jesus Christ to the poor.

But, as United Methodists, we also have our heritage and tradition of loving and taking care of the poor. Wilfredo H. Tangunan writes in his essay ‘The Wesleyan Love for the Poor’: “Methodism treasures a heritage of special love for the poor. One of the amazing discoveries I have in Wesleyan and Methodist Scholarship is the living tradition of John Wesley’s love for the poor.”

“His compassion for the poor prompted him to go to…those in disease-ridden, pestilence, prison holes, numbers chained like beasts in dens, [who]  heard the message of grace and forgiveness and were comforted and uplifted in spirit”

“Wesley’s love for the poor also demonstrated in his courageous defense for them against the charge that poverty is the fault of the poor. He boldly defended the poor, against the Anglican and Puritan charge that the poor were poor because they were “idle and wicked”. He denounced the charge as wickedly and devilishly false,” arguing that the poor, were poor because no employment was given to them. He argued that unemployment was one of the main causes of poverty and suffering”. (From “The Union Seminary Journal, October 2015 Volume 1. “New Beginnings” compiled by Eleazor S. Fernandez.)

So now, we have the scriptures and our Wesleyan tradition, mandating, directing and guiding us on how we should take care of the poor.

The question must then be asked, “What do we do regarding the poor?”

Well, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon us to bring good news to the poor.” Therefore, we are empowered to “Draw the Circle – Draw the Circle wide.” The circle that we draw must be wide enough to include the poor – not just to include the poor - but to find new ways and means to care and provide for them.

Mark Batterson says in his devotional book, “Draw the Circle” that we need a “Crazy Faith”. “Crazy Faith is the kind of faith that is desperate enough to pray through the night.” To pray through the night and be persistent before the Lord. You see, we need this kind of “Crazy Faith” in order to come up with bold ways to eradicate poverty from among us. It this easy? No! But, “The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us.”

“Crazy Faith” is what the widow in Luke 18:15 had. She pushed through until she received justice. Thus, in this parable, Jesus honored the woman’s crazy faith who drove a judge crazy because she wouldn’t give up in seeking justice.

On our mission journey, we have met people with “Crazy Faith”. Their circumstances and situation

dictates that they should give up.

Such are the people in one of the poorest urban communities, in Upper Javier, located in Taytay, Rizal in the Philippines. This is a United Methodist daycare, and families who can barely afford it, bring their children to school to get an education – their hope for tomorrow.

Such are the people of Parola UMC, located in one of the poorest sections of Manila City. Yet when we worshiped with them, there was such hope and trust in the Lord.

 

Yes, they have “Crazy Faith” and we must too. Since “The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us.”