We all know the famous or now, infamous tune “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”. It’s a 1940s tune that is not really the subject of this article. However, I chose its title because it strikes a somewhat resonant chord with the Nativity as well as the image of homeless families and infants who sometimes spend the holidays on the street and in the cold.
If you’ve ever lived or visited any big city, you have seen them.
They sit with everything they own, families sometimes with small children and babies, on the streets, regardless of the weather. They sit because they really can’t stand. Something brought them to this. They’ve often suffered from various addictions, illness, or poor economic situations. They harbor no messiah or anointed child. There are no mangers or wisemen coming to provide them with shelter or gifts.
The police try their best to manage and hide them from witnesses and tourists at the height of the Christmas season. Most people don’t really see them since they are not supposed to be in this holiday picture print. After all, where do they really fit?
Along this same tone, we can only speculate on what would happen if the Nativity happened today and where would Jesus fit. How many times would Joseph and Mary be turned away? Would they end up in some shelter or on the street? We can only imagine the callous looks and shuns from passersby. The remarks of “Get out of here!” or “You don’t belong here!” would be spoken or shouted. The disgusted looks from people all too eager to resume the nuts and bolts of their lives would make the foreground complete in this picture. It’s easier just to go on isn’t it? Not too many people talk about being saved or about God these days as they do their shopping and go about the actions of the day.
So where indeed would Joseph and Mary turn?
What is Charity and Why should we care?
There are two things fundamental to being a Christian. The concept of charity is often mistakenly confused with the socialist principles of “sharing the wealth”. Charity is really only intended as providing resources to those in great need. It is not defined as distributing resources among all peoples solely for their existence.
Jesus once famously said that the poor will always be with us (Matthew 26:11) and the act of giving to the poor and needy is thus, encouraged within the gospels.
Here are two important Bible verses about charity. For others, go to this link
Matthew 6 : 1-4
6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people in order to be noticed by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t blow a trumpet before you like the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they will be praised by people. I tell all of you[a] with certainty, they have their full reward! 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be done in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Matthew 19:21
Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Should Nations Provide Charity?
A lot of talk these days also centers around what role should nations play with regards to charity.
It leads us to ask the question “To what extent should nations be responsible for helping impoverished peoples?”
This is a more complex question than most people think as it depends on a related concept that is perhaps even more confusing which is the concept of nations.
National boundaries or borders are truly a hot topic in today’s news. Most of the stories center around political posturing surrounding age-old arguments regarding the unity of nations & isolationism vs the responsibility to provide economic aid to foreign-born nationals.
While this article is not intended to showcase a polarized view of any political premise, some clarity is nevertheless needed on nations and how they are treated in the Bible so that we may better understand the concepts of charity.
Should Christians Really Care About Nations?
Let’s first discuss the appearance of the word “nation” in the Bible. The Bible Gateway initially lists 537 instances of the word in the NIV Bible. However, upon a closer look at these actual results, most of the instances found pertain to footnote explanatory content and do not reflect the original text.
The other thing worthy of note about the use of “nation” within modern day Bible translations is that the actual original Hebrew word quite literally means the more common Hebrew word “goy” or “goyim” which simply means “non-Jewish” or other peoples. Hence, the word “nation” or ‘enthe’ as transliterated from the Greek Bible (Matthew 28:19) whereby peoples became separated by politics, wars and migration is a man-made concept and not a God-inspired one.
The Bible itself provokes some of the confusion on this topic. On the one hand, we can refer to the famous “Tower of Babel” story in Genesis 11:8 where God creates the division of the people by scattering their ability to converse in one language. This however, caused people to group themselves into nations divided by language. God’s initial intention as is described was to stop the arrogance of the people who tried to build a tower to Heaven to be on the same plane as God. Thus, the intention of scattering people’s languages was a response to a sin as opposed to any intended construction by God.
On the other hand, we also have another important mention of the word “nations” in Acts 17:24-27 but here again, the intention is not to construct national boundaries but rather for God to regulate the experience of worship.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.
So really, if we take this into a strictly Christian perspective, God is not limited by time, space and He certainly would not be limited by any nation or border. The Bible thus, is an Old and New Testament for the whole of the world. It is thus not and should not be used as a book by false prophets or for political posturing.
Now, we all know that the story of the Nativity took place in Bethlehem but let us imagine for the moment that Joseph and Mary are instead, seeking charity at today’s U.S. border. Where indeed might they turn to?
Forgetting about all the politics surrounding the borders, Joseph and Mary, whether carrying the Messiah or no messiah, this would be a story about real people, with real hardship, experiencing very real needs. Theirs may be a unique story or in fact, not. There are many, all too many stories about such souls suffering tremendous hardship and in great need.
Many such stories will not be foretold by a star in the Biblical sense although the gospel is indeed for them. Many will end up camping out into the cold, dark street. Perhaps with nary a slice of meat, undoubtedly, the hunger would not abate them.
And no single nation sings of their plight or lament. They come not bearing gifts but only suffering most will say. They bring nothing but their lives and thus, they too are told that there is no room at the inn.
But really, this is not a question simply of sympathy but of identity. Take a look. Can you really see them? It depends on your point of view. Just play this imagination game a little further and pretend for the moment that you are Mary and Joseph, you are out of all options, you have nothing to give but you are forced to seek help from others.
Time is running out, there is no room at any inn and yet nowhere else to turn to.
And Baby, it’s really cold outside.
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