I Was Homeless and You…

I live near an affluent Georgia County that prides itself on having no problem whatsoever with homelessness. I’d say this is quite an accomplishment, except that I work for the food bank and talk to local law enforcement.

I’ve heard when a sheriff’s deputy encounters someone who might be homeless, the officer asks if they have a place of residence in the county. If they don’t, they get a choice. They can either go to jail for vagrancy or get a free ride to a homeless shelter in the neighboring county. Pretty easy choice. Zero homelessness accomplished.

While I find it scandalous, other cities around the country do the same thing. The Supreme Court recently ruled that it’s legal and San Francisco announced a policy of giving free bus tickets elsewhere to the homeless. It is cheaper to ship the poor out of town than to care for them.

Jesus told a parable that helps me see this situation from an eternal perspective. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, who is the most wretched? Lazarus, who is homeless and starving and covered with sores that are licked by dogs? Or the rich man who steps over him to enter into his house and feast with his friends?

When I read to the end of the story, it becomes obvious that the more wretched person is the rich man, who spent his life satisfying his own desires but will burn for eternity in the fires of hell because of his lack of charity. This story fits well with what must be the least quoted beatitude from the Gospel of Luke’s Sermon on the Plain. “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” It’s not a beatitude Americans like to hear.

The parable implies that Lazarus (and God) would have been satisfied with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. The most limp-wristed attempt at charity might have saved the rich man’s soul from eternal torment.

St. John of the Cross said, “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.” The way I love people, especially the poor, matters. Not just now, but at the hour of my death. I tremble at the thought of approaching the pearly gates and hearing the words, “I was homeless, addicted, and mentally ill, and you gave me a bus ticket to Cleveland.”

But God does not want to assign me a place with the goats. He does not delight in punishing the wicked. God desires and has structured His kingdom to foster deep unity between the rich and the poor. The poor need the rich because of the material goods they can provide. The rich need the poor because they are the doorway to heaven.

The people of this current age don’t see these things this way. The Bible talks candidly about the relationship between rich and poor when it says, “Wild donkeys of the wilderness are lions prey, likewise the poor are pasture for the rich” (Sirach 13:19).

The rich preying on the poor can be seen when traveling through poorer parts of town. Slumlords rent dilapidated housing at exorbitant prices. Gas prices are higher, grocery prices are higher or the product is of lower quality, and predatory lenders like title loan companies fleece the poor. Let’s not forget inflation, the invisible tax on the poor that devours their daily bread. A friend who lives in Hawaii just told me it’s $12 for a dozen eggs.

But the second part of that verse points to a different way to live. The rich need not be lions that devour the poor. If they have a Good Shepherd, they can be sheep in a good pasture.

I live in the country and a friend owns a horse pasture across the street from my house. When I go out in the morning with my coffee and see the horses frolicking in the morning mist, the phrase “ class conflict” does not leap to mind. Tranquility. Peace. Serenity. Psalm 23 uses the phrase ‘verdant pastures’ to refer to the peace and rest provided by God to those who follow the Good Shepherd.

The verse “The poor are pasture for the rich” points to the deep interconnection between the flourishing of the rich and poor. When a pasture is lush and verdant, the sheep are fat and happy. But if it gets overgrazed or infested with weeds and parasites, the sheep will be skinny and sickly. If the poor are thriving, then the rich are doubly so. But when the poor are suffering, it’s only a matter of time before the rich feel the effects.

But to be fair, the pasture needs the sheep as much as the sheep needs the pasture. Without a flock, that pasture will turn into a wilderness in a single hot Georgia summer. A community needs strong business owners and leaders to provide opportunities and order. The fact is that the rich and the poor are tightly bound together… they will flourish, or perish, together.

It is not only in the best interest of the rich to care for the poor because of the eternal consequences. Generosity to the poor in this life will produce good fruit now. As St. Paul says, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6) Truly caring for the poor will beautify cities, reduce crime, and transform our culture. It is obvious that the failure to do so has the opposite effect.

The answer to the crisis of homelessness is to see with the eyes of faith that the poor are Christ in disguise, offering me the opportunity to practice self-sacrificial love. Finding solutions that respect the dignity of the poor will cost me something. Sometimes, the people who need love the most are the most difficult to love. But the more bountifully I sow into the suffering of others, the more graces I will reap both now and at the hour of my death.

When Jesus says, “Woe to you who are rich,” He is saying, “weep and mourn for the poor among. Let their plight break your heart and spur you to action on their behalf. Use the wealth I have given you to bless them, and then you will be children of my Heavenly Father.” The rich will find the Kingdom of God among the poor because that is where He has hidden it.