Yesterday I posted this video clip from The Daily Show on my Facebook page, where Jon Stewart goes after the pundits who act shocked that the poor have things like refrigerators.   You can watch the video HERE.

The comments on my page have ranged from applause to defense of one method or another to solve the ills of our society, particularly when it comes to aiding the poor among us.    Having said that, let me say this as clearly as I can:

I believe most of us, regardless of what side of the political spectrum we fall, care about the less fortunate and desire to help.

We often disagree over how to best help.   I tend to believe we ought to use every tool at our disposal and government is one such tool (in many ways).  As an agent in the life insurance business I know well the power of collective sharing.   Anyone who scoffs at government programs that help the needy should consider how dependent they are on such “socialist” programs when they put money in a bank, send their kids to public school, get their mail delivered to them, drive on interstates or collect the death benefit on their deceased loved one.

There are others who disagree with these programs because they get abused.   It never surprises me when people who don’t claim to follow Jesus argue this way.  But it’s surprising me less and less when I see professing Christians argue this way.  Christians grumble over how their tax money is being used by the poor, buying things like video games or refrigerators.

If you are a Christian, who told you it was your stuff to grumble over?

My friend Hugh Hollowell runs a ministry in Raleigh, NC to the homeless called Love Wins.   He wrote a post on their ministries blog site to answer the number one question he gets asked:  How to not Be Taken Advantage of by Panhandlers.    You won’t like his answer.   Hugh says the surest way you won’t be taken advantage of is by giving up ownership of that which you are giving away.   He then goes on to say that much of what is passed off as concern for the panhandler is actually our own issues of control.

Ouch.

So I have to ask again:  If you are a Christian, who told you it was your stuff to grumble over?

Jesus warned against our love of money and its control over us.  He told the rich man to go and sell everything.  He told us to give to Caesar what is Caesars. He told us to look after the least of these among us.   He told us to love our neighbor. He told us to give our shirt if our coat was asked for.  He told us to walk 2 miles if we were asked to walk only one.

And he told us not to judge.

Need I go on?

The greatest socialist move in the history of humankind was Jesus’ willing sacrifice of his life for the sins of the rich, I mean, the entire world.

Every human in time is covered by the blood of Christ.   I know I have trampled on that grace and used it unwisely at times.   I know I have abused that grace to buy the proverbial X-box when I could have housed someone in need.   And yet this reality – the one where I abuse God’s free gifts almost daily- was never a concern for Jesus as he hung from the cross.   Extraordinarily, he did not pray vengeance upon us, but instead, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

Today’s “Christians” (and yes, I’m placing quotes there in the same way Fox News puts quotes around “poor”), look more like the American political party they espouse than the Christ they claim to serve as Lord.

I hear a lot of talk about letting the Church fill this need instead of the government.   I’m all for that. But why not BOTH?   Why short-sell the poor?   But until the Church actually steps up to the plate and takes on the ministries she has regrettably forfeited to others, there is something we, the body of Christ, can do TODAY that could make a big difference:

Stop grumbling. Stop disparaging the least of these. Stop defending those who do. Stop parroting party lines and defending a political method or ideology at the expense of our witness to Christ, the one who sacrificed it all without demanding we first use his death responsibly.