Does God Have Favorites?

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Five years ago, I wrote a blog called “What’s So Great about Being Poor?” “Nothing,” I wrote, “unless being among God’s favorites counts for nothing.”

It’s true that poverty, in itself, is no great asset. Many people and organizations are trying to eliminate poverty. It would be wonderful if there were no more poor people.

But Jesus, the realist, said it best: “The poor you will always have with you.”

So, what should the attitude of people searching for God – especially in the Christian tradition - be toward the poor? Some may interpret Jesus’ words to mean there will always be poor people so don’t bother with them.

Commit to a Religion

And the question in the previous paragraph is significant. The commonly understood path toward God is to commit to a religion and follow its precepts – go to church, pray, and follow the teachings of the church.

All of that is important. But because of a better reading and understanding of the Bible, many are beginning to see that our relationship to the poor is at the heart of the Christian faith.

Pope Leo recently released the first of what may be many essays on the subject, meant for all Christians of good will. Called by its Latin name, Dilexit Te (“I Have Loved You”), he writes that the goal of the essay is “that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor.”

This would involve overcoming our indifference, our “hard heartiness,” as the prophet Ezekiel put it in the mouth of God: “I will remove from you your hearts of stone and give you hearts of flesh.”

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If those of us who are believers want to come closer to God, and make progress in our spiritual lives, we should heed the pope’s words that “in this call to recognize (Christ) in the poor and suffering, we see revealed the very heart of Christ, his deepest feelings and choices, which every saint seeks to imitate.”

What is this interest in the poor – which seems to be a recent preoccupation of the church – really about? It’s a fair question, except for the presumption that it’s a recent preoccupation. From its beginnings, the church has been preoccupied with the poor. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, for instance, Paul agrees to follow the advice of the Jerusalem Christian leaders to “remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”

This is not about politics. Pope Leo couldn’t care less about that, except that he wants people to form their consciences, based on the gospels and church teaching, and vote accordingly.

It’s also not about guilt. Feeling guilty because we live comfortably does nothing for the poor. What is needed is a consciousness that the majority of people in the world lack what they need; that we who live in the suburbs remember that many people who live in the inner cities live very different lives from ours, then doing what we can to help.

Just a Matter of Choosing

How do we do that? I think it’s pretty simple; it's mostly a matter of choosing to do it. Jesus pretty much laid it out: “I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.”

There are, of course, many kinds of poverty, such as of the “spirit,” things like mental illness, addiction, sadness, depression; in general, it’s about people who suffer. They need our help as well.

We can help people by sharing our money; by volunteering our time and talent; by looking for opportunities to show kindness and compassion.

So, does God have favorites? Yes, I think he/she does, according to the Christian and Hebrew Bibles. Of course, God loves all of us, but it’s pretty obvious God has a special place in his heart for those who suffer, especially the poor. And so should we.