So this is not going to be some kind of fantastic manifesto. Let’s just keep in mind that this post comes from a woman who spends A LOT of time at home with kids. While that is both a joy and a privilege for me,  I do not currently see myself as one who is really “qualified” to ponder the great questions of our society. Not even close…

But here goes.

Several weeks ago, I sat in on a talk at a local church’s Justice Institute.  This was the final night of a series on issues of justice within our community.

The night I attended, the subject was education.  All of the presenters were excellent. I learned a lot from each of them about needs and work in our community in the area of justice in education.  Towards the end of the evening, the audience was asking questions.  You know the ones…Why does this happen? What can we do? How do we do it?  Again, why does this happen?  One presenter in an effort to answer some of the questions that kept coming forth, finally, decided to cut to the chase and share his thoughts. ” Look,” he said, “I am convinced that we, as a society, have a contempt for the poor. “

As I sat there, I thought, Mr. Presenter, are you sure?  I mean, really, contempt? But I kind of like to think that I am a compassionate and caring kind of girl. And I am not unique in this, certainly, right?  Amongst believers, surely we are on the whole a compassionate bunch seeing that our God is Love and all.  Right?

Over the last few weeks these thoughts have been rolling through my mind.What about our society and contempt for the poor?  What about myself and contempt for the poor?  What exactly is contempt anyway? Contempt is the feeling or attitude regarding someone or something as inferior, base, or worthless; scorn. Contempt is disapproval tinged with disgust. 

So do we have that disapproval tinged with disgust?  I certainly have been guilty of it.  What about the pregnant teenager standing in line at the grocery store chatting loudly on her SWEEEET phone while she pays for her snacks with her food stamps card.  Was the first reaction compassion or disapproval tinged with disgust? What about the yard full of cars down the road? What kind of jokes or disgust did that elicit?  What kid was teased the most in back in elementary school? Or which kids did we avoid?  Or maybe,coming back to today, the issue is health care.  Would a government take over of health care be necessary in a society free from contempt for the poor? Or what about a very important question: Could contempt for the poor affect our views of people who do not look like us?  Yes, I am talking about race relations.  Does contempt for the poor fit in here too?

Of course, I know these issues are complex. I know there are good and bad answers when it comes to how we show our compassion.  I know that helping can hurt when it is not done properly.  But, I really want to focus here on the difference between that first reaction of contempt and the first reaction of compassion.

So, I am back to my pondering. What if our society as a whole showed compassion for the poor rather than contempt? Or what if believers broke away from society’s norm and felt and expressed compassion rather than contempt?  What if ...

Luke 6:27-36
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Proverbs 17:5
He who mocks the poor shows contempt for his Maker.

Proverbs 31:8-9
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Zech.7:9
This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.’

Mark 12:31
“And the second is this, Love your neighbor as yourself”

I was in line at the grocery store one afternoon, placing my items on the counter, when I saw a woman start to get in my line. Then she veered away quickly and I looked behind me. There was a young man, probably Josh’s age, who was obviously very poor, reeking of cigarette smoke. First of all, I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t noticed him. Second, my overwhelming initial reaction was ‘disapproval tinged with disgust.’ But then I remembered I had prayed that very morning for the Lord to give me an opportunity to reach out to someone I normally would not reach out to. So I said, ‘Okay, I get it, Lord,’ tried to breathe through my mouth, and started some small talk. And here’s what made me the saddest. He was shocked. Why was this middle-aged white woman talking to him? He didn’t expect it and it was obvious to me that he was used to being ignored. His answers were brief nods or one syllable words only. It was very sobering. Not just because my initial reaction was one of contempt. How many times have I not even seen someone the world considers one of the ‘least of these?’ Open my eyes, Lord!

Great post, Barbra…it’s so good for us to wrestle with these issues.  That’s part of what “working out our salvation with fear and trembling” looks like.  Help us, Holy Spirit!

I remember reading a quote from Lou Tepper, when he was coaching football at the U of I.  A reporter had asked him about the close relationship he seemed to have with the janitorial staff in the athletic department.  His response, as best I remember it: “My father was a wonderful man.  A great father, a neighbor who never let any need go unmet.  He was also a janitor for most of the final half of his life.  I saw how deeply he felt people’s disrespect.”

That brought tears to my eyes when I read it, and it still does today.  How sad, that a man of such character, with seemingly so much to offer, lived his life painfully aware of society’s contempt for him due to the hard work he did to take care of his family.

It’s a trap and a vicious cycle to hold in contept those who hold othes in contempt.  I will not let myself slide down that path.  But I have to admit a growing contempt for a socity that values, respects, and glorifies all the wrong things - and holds in contempt those who are most in need of compassion.  But yet I am such a part of that priviledged class… so hypocritical.  Where is the balance, what do we do…?

I learned at the Justice Institute that our society is structured to minimize our contact with “undesirable” people.  It is also structured to maximize our comfort.  I suspect we have to ‘actively’ seek out opportunities to meet and interact to overcome and break down these societal barriers.  Another highlight from each of six sessions was compassionate living requires me to get out of my comfort zone.  Actually more than that.  It requires me to pursue discomfort and be willing to get into messy situations.  For each area of societal problems, simple solutions do not apply.  Personal relationship is required to produce real improvement.  There are many treated as outcasts in our community (and of course the world).  It will take many to reach across the barriers.  I can share some local opportunities in the near future.

As one who has been content most of my life to “ignore” the poor around me, and show my contempt by my indiffernece the past year has been where God has been opening me to the plight of the orphan, the plight of the poor, the needs of those in the communities around me.  You can’t pray to have the mind of Christ and a compassionate heart like his and not be moved by the masses, but ultimately that’s where he wants each of us, in the very center of compassion and love towards our neighbor.  I really empathize with the example of critiquing the teen mom wasting her resources on what I would disapprove of.  I have harshly judged so many like her countless times in my life and instead of offering compassion, if they even noticed anything from me it was probably contempt.  Certainly I was hindered in being capable of ministering the love of God to them and that is where God has to move us towards them, at the very level where people need him most - his love for them.  Thank you for sharing Barbra.  Excellent Word.

Barb thanks for the post. Though I haven’t had much experience as a nurse, I have witnessed much of this same contempt in my clinical rotations. Sadly much of the same attitude about the poor is displayed in healthcare from professionals. There are people with problems/conditions analogous to that pregnant teen on her cell using food stamps: the alcoholic, the smoker on oxygen, pregnant woman on drugs, teen mothers, person with a drug addiction, etc etc. Nurses especially are called to serve people but so often do they get caught up in the “I don’t want to help someone who wont help themselves” attitude - contempt. I’ve felt that pressure myself to criticize… like the man who was in the ICU for his cocaine problem or the 13 year old teen pregnant with her second baby.  I see many parallels between christians and nurses. I think it is easy to let groups of people influence us to fall into that cynicism trap. I think it is important for us to act as leaders to influence others in the opposite direction.