Lenten Reflections #1
During Lent, the Church gives a lot of emphasis to three things: prayer, fasting and charity. Prayer mends any disruptions in our relationship with God; fasting helps us to be more in control of ourselves; charity enables us to love others as ourselves.
Though selfishness and greed controls the chunk of our daily activities, amazingly humanity also spend enormous resources towards helping those in need. In fact, I am confident that I am not over-stretching when I say that it might be impossible to find a human being who hasn't done a charitable thing at least once in their lifetime. But rather than focussing on those numerous occasions when we all have helped others, I would like to reflect upon those few instances when we failed to help those in need, especially those instances when the means to help were already available at our disposal.
I remember a time in my life when I stopped supporting a particular charitable organization because I read somewhere that they spend some of their resources to bail out alleged drug dealers and domestic abusers from jail. I can also think many instances when I refused to help young and healthy looking homeless people, while supporting those who looked old and feeble. I know this is not just my personal problem because I have heard many talking about their reluctance to help charitable organizations that do not do extensive background investigations before offering help. Like myself, they too don't want their hard earned resources go to waste by allowing it to get to the wrong hands.
When we decide to help others, we expect that the recipient be a deserving individual, therefore we reserve the right to hold out help to those whom we feel are not deserving. A young man in good health should be at least washing dishes at a restaurant rather than looking for handouts; a drug dealer or somebody who beats up their spouse and kids belong in jail; a friend or relative who lost their family inheritance due to poor planning or luxurious lifestyle deserves to go hungry. We all have our reasons to not help others, just like we have reasons to help others.
But is it okay for us to decide who gets our help and who doesn't based on our perception of their necessity since it is our money and resources that we are dispensing? And since it is an expression of our freewill and display of our generosity, shouldn't we have the freedom to pick and choose who gets our help and who doesn't?
Many Bible commentators have used the Parable of the good samaritan to explain our behavior towards the needy. In this story, we are familiar with the reasons for the priest and, later for the Levite to not help the man who fell victim to the robbers. The priest was on his way to the temple to perform his duties and didn't want to be late. The Levite was scared that the robbers could still be around and they might attack him also if they see him attending to one of their preys. In other words, they both wanted to help, but their chores and concern for personal safety prevented them from doing a good deed.
What stands out in this parable is that both the priest and Levite refused to help somebody who definitely could have used their help. Though they had their reasons to leave him there, the bottom line is that somehow they didn't feel compassionate enough to help the injured man. Many commentators have argued that this lack of compassion is a direct result of the priest and Levite coming to a conclusion that the injured man only received what he rightfully deserved. Those days, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a dangerous road because of the presence of robbers who hid in the many caves, awaiting lonely travelers, especially merchants, who travelled back and forth for trade. So people with anything valuable in their possession usually travelled in groups to fend off robbers. This man who fell victim to the robbers didn't follow the norm. He could have been an arrogant man and might have thought that robbers wouldn't be able to get him. So he chose to travel on that dangerous road with valuable stuff all by himself and fell victim to the robbers. The priest and Levite immediately recognized this fact and came to an immediate conclusion that the man got only what he deserved. Therefore they didn't feel compassionate enough to put aside their chores or to jeopardize their own safety in order to help him.
Now if we take the same scenario and infuse it into our life, then we can see that every time we refuse to help somebody for what we believe to be valid reasons are turning us into the priest and the Levite. Every time when we refuse to help somebody because we think that their plight is a direct result of their own wrongdoing is justifying their miseries.
What is scary is that we could be absolutely right about the cause of their miseries, it could actually have been a direct result of one of their poor decisions. But God doesn't allow us to use it as an excuse for us to walk away from it. It doesn't matter how a person came to be homeless, it doesn't matter whether a person actually sold drugs on the street or not, it doesn't matter how many times somebody abused their sibling and kids, it doesn't matter the person asking for help is actually going to spend it on food for the family or booze for himself - God doesn't allow us to make that judgement, He always wants us to help without reasonings and reservations.
As Christians we believe in a God who forgive our transgressions regardless of its severity and without keeping tab of repetitions. God doesn't base His decision to forgive us on the reasons that led us to commit those crimes - HE FORGIVES WITHOUT RESERVATIONS, EVERY TIME WE ASK. If we expect to become children of God, thus share in the Redemption offered to us through the Blood of Christ, then we too are required to be a good neighbor - a neighbor without reservations, a neighbor who doesn't withhold aid based on judgements and assumptions.
Though selfishness and greed controls the chunk of our daily activities, amazingly humanity also spend enormous resources towards helping those in need. In fact, I am confident that I am not over-stretching when I say that it might be impossible to find a human being who hasn't done a charitable thing at least once in their lifetime. But rather than focussing on those numerous occasions when we all have helped others, I would like to reflect upon those few instances when we failed to help those in need, especially those instances when the means to help were already available at our disposal.
I remember a time in my life when I stopped supporting a particular charitable organization because I read somewhere that they spend some of their resources to bail out alleged drug dealers and domestic abusers from jail. I can also think many instances when I refused to help young and healthy looking homeless people, while supporting those who looked old and feeble. I know this is not just my personal problem because I have heard many talking about their reluctance to help charitable organizations that do not do extensive background investigations before offering help. Like myself, they too don't want their hard earned resources go to waste by allowing it to get to the wrong hands.
When we decide to help others, we expect that the recipient be a deserving individual, therefore we reserve the right to hold out help to those whom we feel are not deserving. A young man in good health should be at least washing dishes at a restaurant rather than looking for handouts; a drug dealer or somebody who beats up their spouse and kids belong in jail; a friend or relative who lost their family inheritance due to poor planning or luxurious lifestyle deserves to go hungry. We all have our reasons to not help others, just like we have reasons to help others.
But is it okay for us to decide who gets our help and who doesn't based on our perception of their necessity since it is our money and resources that we are dispensing? And since it is an expression of our freewill and display of our generosity, shouldn't we have the freedom to pick and choose who gets our help and who doesn't?
Many Bible commentators have used the Parable of the good samaritan to explain our behavior towards the needy. In this story, we are familiar with the reasons for the priest and, later for the Levite to not help the man who fell victim to the robbers. The priest was on his way to the temple to perform his duties and didn't want to be late. The Levite was scared that the robbers could still be around and they might attack him also if they see him attending to one of their preys. In other words, they both wanted to help, but their chores and concern for personal safety prevented them from doing a good deed.
What stands out in this parable is that both the priest and Levite refused to help somebody who definitely could have used their help. Though they had their reasons to leave him there, the bottom line is that somehow they didn't feel compassionate enough to help the injured man. Many commentators have argued that this lack of compassion is a direct result of the priest and Levite coming to a conclusion that the injured man only received what he rightfully deserved. Those days, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a dangerous road because of the presence of robbers who hid in the many caves, awaiting lonely travelers, especially merchants, who travelled back and forth for trade. So people with anything valuable in their possession usually travelled in groups to fend off robbers. This man who fell victim to the robbers didn't follow the norm. He could have been an arrogant man and might have thought that robbers wouldn't be able to get him. So he chose to travel on that dangerous road with valuable stuff all by himself and fell victim to the robbers. The priest and Levite immediately recognized this fact and came to an immediate conclusion that the man got only what he deserved. Therefore they didn't feel compassionate enough to put aside their chores or to jeopardize their own safety in order to help him.
Now if we take the same scenario and infuse it into our life, then we can see that every time we refuse to help somebody for what we believe to be valid reasons are turning us into the priest and the Levite. Every time when we refuse to help somebody because we think that their plight is a direct result of their own wrongdoing is justifying their miseries.
What is scary is that we could be absolutely right about the cause of their miseries, it could actually have been a direct result of one of their poor decisions. But God doesn't allow us to use it as an excuse for us to walk away from it. It doesn't matter how a person came to be homeless, it doesn't matter whether a person actually sold drugs on the street or not, it doesn't matter how many times somebody abused their sibling and kids, it doesn't matter the person asking for help is actually going to spend it on food for the family or booze for himself - God doesn't allow us to make that judgement, He always wants us to help without reasonings and reservations.
As Christians we believe in a God who forgive our transgressions regardless of its severity and without keeping tab of repetitions. God doesn't base His decision to forgive us on the reasons that led us to commit those crimes - HE FORGIVES WITHOUT RESERVATIONS, EVERY TIME WE ASK. If we expect to become children of God, thus share in the Redemption offered to us through the Blood of Christ, then we too are required to be a good neighbor - a neighbor without reservations, a neighbor who doesn't withhold aid based on judgements and assumptions.
"Can one refuse mercy to a sinner like oneself,
yet seek pardon for one’s own sins?
Remember the commandments and do not be angry with your neighbor;
remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook faults."
- Sirach 28: 4,7
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