Jesus began his ministry by announcing good news to the poor, and he told his followers that whatever they did for "the least of these" they did for him (Matthew 25:40). Care for the poor is not an optional extra in the Christian life.
These five stories about poverty and caring for the poor, retold in our own words, span seventeen centuries, from a deacon in ancient Rome to a church on New York's Fifth Avenue. Each ends with a takeaway for sermons or reflection.
Stories in this collection:
- "These Are the Treasures of the Church": St Lawrence of Rome
- Blaise Pascal: The Genius Who Gave Everything Away
- The Homeless on the Steps of Fifth Avenue
- "Then You Will Know How Poor You Are": Kipling's Warning
- Pastries for Refugees: "But I Do"
"These Are the Treasures of the Church": St Lawrence of Rome
Lawrence was a deacon of the church in Rome in the third century. When a fierce wave of persecution broke out under the emperor Valerian in 258, Pope Sixtus II and other church leaders were arrested and executed. Lawrence knew it was only a matter of time before they came for him.
As one of the deacons responsible for the church's property, Lawrence had long been in charge of distributing money and help to the poor. Now, knowing his time was short, he began giving away even more, so that the church's resources would go to those in need rather than into the hands of the authorities.
Soon Lawrence was summoned before a Roman official, who demanded that he hand over the treasures of the church. According to the traditional account, Lawrence agreed that the church was indeed rich, and asked for three days to gather everything together.
When the three days were up, the official arrived expecting to find gold and silver. Instead, Lawrence had gathered a crowd of the poor, the blind, the lame and the sick, the people the church cared for. Here, Lawrence declared, are the treasures of the church.
The official was furious, and Lawrence was executed. Later tradition says he was roasted on a gridiron, though many historians think it more likely that he was beheaded like Sixtus. Either way, he died for his faith in 258, and he has been honoured ever since as one of the most famous martyrs of Rome.
Lawrence was right about the treasures of the church, wasn't he?
Takeaway: The church's true wealth has never been its buildings or bank accounts but its people, especially those the world overlooks.
Source: Traditional accounts of St Lawrence's martyrdom (AD 258).
Blaise Pascal: The Genius Who Gave Everything Away
Blaise Pascal was one of the most brilliant minds of seventeenth-century France. His sister later told a remarkable story about his childhood: that at the age of about twelve, before he had been taught any geometry, he worked out for himself that the angles of a triangle add up to two right angles, one of the propositions of Euclid. Whether or not every detail is exact, there is no doubt about his genius.
As an adult Pascal made important contributions to mathematics and physics. He invented one of the first mechanical calculators, did pioneering work on probability and the pressure of the atmosphere, and gave his name to a unit of pressure still used today. He even helped give the world public transport. In 1662 he was one of the founders of a scheme of horse-drawn coaches running on fixed routes through Paris at a low fare, often described as the first public bus service.
Pascal was also a devoted Christian. After a profound experience of God in 1654, which he recorded on a piece of parchment sewn into his coat, he wrote extensively about faith, and his notes were later published as his famous Pensées.
Pascal came to see that his faith, though deeply personal, could not be merely private. His love for God drove him to love the poor. He is reported to have said that he loved poverty because Christ loved it, and that he valued wealth because it gave him the means to help those in need.
Increasingly, he went without so that he could give more. According to his sister's account, he gave away much of his money and sold possessions, including furniture and silver, in order to help the poor. When the coach company began to make money, he arranged for some of it to go to the poor of the city of Blois, who had suffered badly from a harsh winter, and in his will he left a share of his interest in the company to the hospitals of Paris and Clermont.
In his final illness he even took a poor family into his home. Pascal died in Paris on 19 August 1662, aged just thirty-nine. The poor whom he had helped were among those who mourned him.
Takeaway: Brilliance and success are gifts to be used for others. Pascal's greatest legacy may be not his inventions but his love for the poor.
Source: Charles Hummel, The Galileo Connection (IVP, 1986); Pascal's own writings.
The Homeless on the Steps of Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church stands on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan, in one of the wealthiest shopping districts in the world. Luxury hotels stand on neighbouring corners, and nearby shops sell designer handbags and fine chocolates. A night in some of those hotels can cost well over a thousand dollars.
There was just one problem for those who wanted the area to look perfect: the people of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian would not cooperate. For years the church had allowed homeless people to sleep on its steps and under its outdoor shelter at night. In the mornings it opened its doors so that they could come in out of the cold and use the bathrooms.
The sight of twenty or thirty people sleeping in cardboard shelters, in plain view of wealthy shoppers, business leaders and visiting dignitaries, did not please everyone in authority. In late 2001, according to reports at the time, the church was asked to keep homeless people away while important guests stayed at nearby hotels. The church agreed on those few occasions.
But when the homeless returned, a campaign of police pressure began. Officers arrived with vans and moved many people away. They came back throughout the night, waking those who were left, sometimes under the pretext of checking on their health. Some officers were reportedly uncomfortable with what they were being asked to do, saying the orders came from above.
So Fifth Avenue Presbyterian appealed to a higher authority. The church took the city to court, arguing that its care for the homeless was part of its religious practice. In December 2001 a federal judge ruled in the church's favour, barring the police from removing the homeless people sleeping on the church's property.
The church had decided that its witness to Christ was worth more than its reputation with its powerful neighbours.
Takeaway: Sometimes caring for the poor means more than handing out food. It means standing beside them when they are pushed out of sight.
Source: The New York Times, 20 December 2001.
"Then You Will Know How Poor You Are": Kipling's Warning
The English writer Rudyard Kipling once gave an address to students at McGill University in Montreal. He warned them not to make money, position or glory the great ambition of their lives.
Some day, he told them, you will meet a man who cares for none of these things. Then you will know how poor you are.
Takeaway: There is a poverty of possessions and a poverty of soul. The rich can be poor in the ways that matter most, and the poor can be rich towards God.
Source: Rudyard Kipling, address at McGill University (1907); reported by Dale Turner, Seattle Times, 7 August 1999.
Pastries for Refugees: "But I Do"
This story is told in many sermon collections. The missionary's name is spelled in different ways, including Golter and Goulter, and we have not been able to confirm all the details.
In the 1940s, an American missionary named Oswald Golter had served for many years in northern China. At last he was on his way home. On the journey his ship stopped in India, and while he waited for a passage onward, he came across a group of refugees living in a warehouse on the docks. Nobody wanted them, and they had nowhere to go.
It was Christmas time, so Golter went to visit them. He wished them a merry Christmas and asked them what they would like for Christmas.
We're not Christians, they told him. We don't believe in Christmas.
I know, said the missionary. But what would you like for Christmas?
They described some German pastries they had once loved. So Golter cashed in his ticket home, used the money to buy basket after basket of the pastries, took them to the refugees and wished them a merry Christmas.
Later, when he told the story to a class, a student asked him why he had done it. They weren't Christians, the student said. They didn't even believe in Jesus.
I know, Golter replied. But I do.
Takeaway: We do not care for the poor because they share our faith, but because of ours. Christian generosity is rooted in who Jesus is, not who deserves it.
Source: Widely told missionary story; details vary between versions.
Final thoughts
A deacon's treasure, a genius's generosity, a church's courage, a novelist's warning and a basket of pastries. Each story asks how we use what we have, and whether we see the poor as Jesus does.
For further reading, Sopranu reviews Fast Food Nation and Vaclav Smil's How the World Really Works, two books on how ordinary economic systems shape the lives of the poor.
Who are the treasures of the church in your community?
More stories you may like:
These stories are retold in our own words for teaching and reflection. Sources are credited under each story.