Demonstration 20: On Care for the Poor

A demonstration on the distribution to the poor. Great and glorious is this gift, when it is found in a discerning person, when he gives to the needy from the labor of his hands, and not from the plunder of others, as God said through the prophet: "This is my commandment: give rest to the weary." And that is the path of him who hears. And again the prophet said: "That fast is acceptable which loves God, when you break your bread for the hungry, and bring the stranger into your house, when you see the naked and clothe him, and do not despise your fellow man." And when he does these things, he becomes like a garden of roses, and like a spring of waters whose waters are not cut off. His righteousness goes before him, and he is adorned with the honor of the Lord. And Moses, the great prophet of Israel, warned and commanded concerning the poor and the evil, and the strangers and the inhabitants, and the proselytes and the orphans and the widows. For he said to Israel: "When you harvest your harvest, do not finish your fields, and also when you gather the grapes, do not turn back to take them, but leave them for the poor and for the proselytes and for the orphans and for the widows." And remember that you also were thus in Egypt. And he added and said: "When you pick your vineyard, do not glean behind you, and also when you beat your olive tree, do not strip it behind you, but leave them for the proselytes and for the poor who are among you." And when you do these things, the Lord your God will bless you in all that you put forth your hands, and you will eat the old that has aged, and the old before the new you will redeem. And again he said to them: "Behold, I am bringing you into a good and fertile land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land whose rocks are iron, and from whose mountains you will hew copper, a land wherein are the eyes of the Lord God, from the beginning of the hour to the end of the hour, a land in which you will not eat bread in poverty." For thus it is a good and fertile land; the poor man is not cut off from within it.

And again He commanded them and said to them: "For six years you shall sow your land and gather its produce, and in the seventh year you shall let it lie fallow and leave it; and the poor among you shall eat from it, and the remainder the beasts of the field shall eat." And thus He said to them: "In the seventh year you shall not pluck its ears of grain, nor gather its stalks, but they shall be for the poor." And because He knew their evil inclination, He said to them: "And if you say, 'What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we have not sown nor gathered produce?'" He said to them: "I will send you my blessings in the sixth year, and it will yield produce for three years: for the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth; and you shall eat from its produce of the sixth year until the ninth year." And earnestly He warned them: "Do not withhold the wages of a hired hand who works for you, but give him his wages on the very day, so that a complaint against you does not reach God and you incur sin. For if you withhold the wages of a hired hand who works for you, on that night your soul will be taken from you, and the poor man will be wronged in his wages that are with you, for he entrusted his soul to you on your account; or he may die, and you will find no one there to give his wages to." And again David also concerned himself with the poor and the wretched, the orphans and the widows, and established stewardships throughout all Israel to provide for and distribute to the poor. And when he sang and praised before his God, he gave blessing to the providers for the poor. For he said: "Blessed is he who cares for the poor, whom the Lord delivered from the evil day, and the Lord preserved him, kept him alive, and made him good on the earth, and did not hand him over to his enemies; and in his sickness He supported him on the bed of his pains." And again he said in another psalm: "He scattered and gave to the wretched, and his righteousness endures forever." And again it is written: "He who gives to the poor lends to God." And again he said: "Fashion alms.

and established a treasury. And it is good for you more than all treasures. And again it is written: Give to God from what He has given you. And see that from the needy He takes the alms to give, so that through the needy His own neediness is filled when they give. For it was sufficient in His hands that there should be no utterly needy person. But when He did this, the merchandise of the needy was with Him, for through them it was revealed: the rich gave to the poor. And when the poor receives, he acknowledges the Lord of both. And our Lord Jesus, when He revealed the parable of the judgment of the last day, when He separated and set up those on His right and those on His left, there He received the grace of the good, and called them the blessed of His Father, the heirs of His kingdom who spread out to the poor. For He said to those on His right: Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you from the beginning, because you were hungry and gave Me to eat, and I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink, and I was naked and you clothed Me, and I was a stranger and you sheltered Me, and I fell ill and you tended Me, and I was in prison and you came to Me. Then those righteous ones did not grasp the power of our Lord's word. They turned and said to Him: When did we see You, our Lord, in this neediness and do thus for You? Then He said to them: Whatever you did for one of these little brothers, you did for Me. And He turned to those on His left and said to them: Go away from Me, accursed ones, to the fire that is prepared for the evil one and his angels, because you did not do these things for Me. Then also those on His left turned and said to Him: When, our Lord, did we see You in one of these and not serve You? He said to them: What you did not do for these needy, you did not do for Me either. And the righteous who served Christ among the needy went to eternal life, and the wicked went to fire and darkness.

of the one who did not distribute to the poor among the Christians. And again he spoke in another parable about a rich man who relied on his own strength, while his land bore many fruits. And he said to himself, "Behold, many good things have been borne for you, for many banquets. Rest yourself, eat, and be merry." God said to him, "O heartless one! Behold, tonight your soul will be demanded from you. Behold, what you have done will become nothing." And after him he said, "Thus it is with one who stores up treasures and is not rich in God." And again he showed another parable about a rich man who delighted in his good things, and his destruction was in Sheol. And a poor man lay at his door, and he was hostile and mocked, while he filled his belly from what fell from the table of that rich man. And he said, "No one gave to him." And he said there, "Dogs came and licked his spittle." For the rich man who delighted in good things is the people who eat and drink, and are idle and lead the Lord astray, and mock God, as it is written: "The children of Israel spoke against God and against Moses words that were not proper." And now I speak about the rich who resemble Moses. He said concerning them, "What people has their God so near to them as the Lord God? And who has righteous laws and upright judgments?" And again he said to them, "Behold, you have entered the land of the Canaanites and inherited it. You have entered houses that you did not build, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and wells that you did not dig. And you eat, are sated, and are clothed, and you lead the Lord astray. And with the many good things that He gave you, you became rich." And the poor man who lay at his door is the likeness of the Savior. And he was hostile and mocked, because he took fruits from them and carried them to his sender. And no one gave to him.

And he said that dogs came and licked his sores. For the dogs that came were the nations that licked the sores of the body of the Savior. His body was taken and placed on their shoulders. For those dogs were the nations that knew themselves and did not know how to be satisfied, nor were they able to be silent. But see, these dogs that licked the sores of that poor man were not wise, for if they had been wise, they would have been eager for the table of the rich man, and not for licking sores. And concerning them the prophet said, "Dogs that know themselves and do not know how to be satisfied." And David said, "They were mad like dogs and roamed the city." And at the end of the passage he said, "That rich man died and was buried, and he was cast into torment. And that poor man also died, and the angels brought him to the bosom of Abraham. And the rich man lifted his eyes from within Sheol and from torment, and saw Abraham and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to come and help me, and moisten my lips from the burning, for I am in great distress.' Abraham said to him, 'My son, remember that you received your benefits in your life, and Lazarus received his evils. Now you ask from him, and he cannot help you, because a great chasm is between me and you, and neither of you can come to the other, nor can I go to you.' He said to him, 'If my father does not ask, I ask of you, that you send to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Go, testify to them and do not sin, and let them also come to this torment.' And Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear from them.' He said to him, 'No, my father Abraham, but go, speak with the dead who are with them and are seated.' Abraham said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,'

Nor did any person from among the dead go to them and believe in him, as I said above. The rich one is the people, and the poor one is the Savior, as it is written that the Lord desired to humble him and afflict him. And the Apostle said, "For your sakes the rich one became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich." And again he said, "He humbled himself and submitted even to death—the death of the cross." And as for his saying that the rich one died, truly the prophet said concerning them, "Your death, Lord God," and he called his servants by another name, that they are his servants, the people from among the nations, and he called them by another name, that they are called Christians, that they are the Messiah's, and not the rulers of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah like them, as the preaching of the twelve apostles testifies, that there they were first called Christians in Antioch. Also that poor one died, and angels carried him to the bosom of Abraham, as Mary said, "They took my Lord and I do not know where they carried him." And the angels said to Mary, "He has risen and gone to the one who sent him." And angels were ministering to him, as is said above in his Gospel, that angels came down and were ministering to Jesus, and also when he was born angels were praising and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and good news to men of good will." And Gabriel the angel announced his birth, and he said to Simon his disciple, "Lest you think that if I asked my Father for a host of angels of heaven, he would not give them to me." And again he said to his disciples, "You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God descending and ascending to the Son of Man." These things I have written to you because it is written that when the poor one died, angels carried him to the bosom of Abraham, and that he said they carried him to the bosom of Abraham—that is the kingdom of heaven.

And Abraham said to the rich man: "There is a great fear in the world, and you do not fear it. And the dead did not come to you, and you did not go to them." This shows that after death and resurrection there is no repentance. The wicked do not repent and ascend to the kingdom, nor do the righteous again sin and go to torment. That is the great fear. And he who sought from him as his helper, and was not sent to his help, by this he showed that on that day a man does not help his companion. And he said: "Go to the house of my father and preach to them that they should not sin." And he said to him: "They have Moses and the prophets; hear from them." And he said: "No one from among the dead went and repented." This is known: that the people did not listen to Moses and the prophets, and they did not believe in Jesus who rose from among the dead. And again it is written that when one sins, his sins are covered by alms, as it is said that Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar: "Redeem your sins by alms, and your iniquity by mercy towards the poor." And the prophet said to the children of Israel: "Because you struck the poor and took choice offerings from him, the houses of the idol you built, you will not dwell in them; and the vineyards you planted, you will not drink their wine." And see that he is zealous for God concerning the poor. For Isaiah said: "The poor and the wicked seek water and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them; the God of Israel, and I will not leave them." And instead of their tongue being parched from lack of water, I opened rivers in the mountains, and within the valleys I made springs flow, and I gave in the desert cedars, cypresses, myrtle, and oil trees, and I placed in the valleys prepared pools together. For the poor and the wicked who seek water and there is none, the people who are among the peoples, and the water of the teaching of the holy books which was dried up from their tongue from praise. And he said: "I opened rivers in the mountains.

And in the midst of the clefts are springs. For the mountains and clefts are like human beings, high and low, and they pour forth rivers and springs. And he said that in the wilderness there are cedars, cypresses, pines, and oil-bearing trees, and pleasant shrubs are prepared in the cleft. For the wilderness of the peoples is like a human being, for at first they were like a desolate wilderness, and cedars, cypresses, pines, and oil-bearing trees are the priests of the people, and the holy covenant, which are prepared in their branches, like those trees of summer and winter, prepared and laden with their leaves. And that which is placed in the cleft, the pleasant shrubs together, from the lowly ones comes forth a saying and a teaching of the spirit, whose fragrance is sweet like the pleasant shrub, as the Apostle said: "In every place a sweet fragrance is offered to God." And also to Job his friends were saying to him when they were reproaching him in his affliction: "Why has this happened to you? Did you not send the widow away empty-handed? And did you not weaken the arm of the orphan? Did you not give water to the thirsty? And did you withhold bread from the hungry? And is there a daughter of an orphan? And is there a cow of a widow? There is a man who sowed the land for him, and a master of a vineyard took from him, because you did these things. Your snares surrounded you and your fear moved you from rest." And when he heard these things from them, he went out in spirit upon his own face, for he said to them: "I was eyes for the blind, and feet for the lame, and those who were sent from the treasures of my wealth were found, and I did not raise my hand against the orphan, but when I saw him at the door I helped him. I did not send the widow away empty-handed, and I did not eat my bread alone, but the orphan ate with me. I broke the teeth of the wicked, and I drove the robber from the house of his neighbors, and I said, 'I will redeem the poor people.' And again he said: 'I opened my door to the stranger, and I did not darken the eyes of the widow.'

If, however, you have not done these things, my shoulders are broken from my illness, and my arms are shattered from my pain; my mercies are my wounds, because the hand of God has drawn near to me, and these things did not happen because of my sins. And my Lord especially warned concerning the poor, and said to the master of the banquet: When you make a feast or a banquet, do not call your relatives or your brothers, nor your wealthy neighbours, lest they also honour you and you receive this reward. But when you make it, call the poor and the common people, and the blind and the lame, and those who have nothing; and blessed are you that they have nothing with which to repay you, and your reward will be established with the righteous. And again he said: Make for yourselves mercies from this evil world, so that when it is finished, they will receive you in its eternal petitions. And from the mercies that they have, which are eternal petitions, and from the evil world, they are bound in evils. For mercies are God and his Messiah, who have eternal petitions. When one gives in the beginning from what he has to the poor, he fulfils the will of God and his Messiah, as it is said: This is my will, fulfil it for the stewards. And my Lord said: Those who have done these things for me have done them for me. And he said: Make for yourselves mercies, as Isaiah said: Do not fear, my servant Jacob, the seed of Abraham, my mercies. And my Lord said to his disciples: I have called you mercies, because everything I heard from my father I have made known to you. These are the mercies that are bound in the sons of men, in that they give to the poor and in their eternal petitions, the place where the righteous dwell. It is possible that they do not make haste, and it is not from these creations, as the Apostle said. And again my Lord urged the distributors of the poor and the evil. For he said: Do not place for yourselves treasures in the earth, the place where thieves and robbers fight.

and a place where a moth corrupts and destroys. But set your treasures in heaven, a treasure without loss, a place where no moth corrupts, and no thieves steal. And the place where your treasure will be, there also will be your heart. The Apostle also said concerning the Apostles who were before him, that they commanded only this: that they should be mindful of the poor. And it seemed to me that this is what I should do. And the Lord said, "Blessed are the poor in their spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs." And concerning the rich he said, "Woe to you rich who have received your request." And what of the rich who received their request? But that first people, all of whom asked for earth, and not for heaven, like the rich man who labored and increased his possessions, and was not rich in God. And like the one who delighted in all good things, and received his request here, and thereafter was not given what he asked. And concerning the poor he said, "The kingdom of heaven is theirs." Lest they say that everyone who is poor in this world is with his portion. For there are poor who have nothing, who are thieves and murderers and liars and evildoers, who are outside the law. Lest the kingdom of heaven be for them. No, but blessed are the poor in spirit, given to the fearers of God. These are not considered by their portion alongside the fear of their God. But rather, the more they are needy, the more they are adorned with it. Abraham was rich, but poor in spirit before his God. And Isaac and Jacob, the sons of his covenant, who walked in his footsteps and pleased their God, while being rich. Job was a rich man from the sons of the East, and when he was tested in his body and his portion, he loved his God for what was given to him, and did not blaspheme against God. These are the ones of whom the Apostle said, that they lived in love of hospitality, those who received angels. For who were the lovers of hospitality? Abraham, Lot, and Job.

and other righteous ones like them. And see, my beloved, how merciful these fathers were to strangers. For when Abraham saw those angels as strangers of his, he ran to their way and bowed before them that they might enter his tent and be refreshed at his side, so that the stranger might be blessed through the mercy of strangers. And in this he greatly marvelled, that a great man would be agitated and bow and entreat and beg that strangers might enter with him, the weary ones. For it was Abraham's custom that every day he would receive strangers with him. For when he saw those angels as strangers, weary ones of his, he ran to their way and received them as strangers, while their greatness was hidden from his eyes. And he stood above them and served them. And he commanded Sarah that she with her hands should knead three seahs of fine flour, openly a seah for the men, with a measure of abundance. For when he received rewards, he was thus. And through his love of strangers he received reward and the promise that through his seed all nations would be blessed. And Lot also thus received strangers, and he was brought out from Sodom because of the practice of strangers, as Ezekiel said, that this was the iniquity of Sodom and her daughters, that they did not take hold of the hand of the poor and the evil. And when I saw these things, I turned my face. And also Zechai the sinner covered himself. He went to his master and said to him, "Behold, my lord, the portion of my possessions I have given to the poor, and everything I have shorn, I have repaid one in four." And his master said to him, "The days were life in this house." And also that rich man who came to his master and said to him, "What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" His master said to him, "Do not commit usury and do not steal, and honour your father and your mother, and love your neighbour as yourself." That man said to him, "These things I have done from my youth. But what am I lacking?

Then Jesus looked at him lovingly and said to him, “One thing is lacking for you. If you wish to be perfect, go, sell everything you have, give to the poor, take up your cross, and come after me.” And that man, when he heard, was greatly troubled, and went to his house in anger, because he was rich in good possessions. And Jesus said, “See how many stumble, those who trust in their possessions, who entered the kingdom of heaven.” And again he said, “It is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle, or for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And the Apostle also said, “The seed that is sown in stinginess is also reaped in stinginess; but that which is sown in blessing is reaped in blessing.” And when they do good deeds, there is no vessel for the good. Behold, I have written for you, my beloved, a brief reminder concerning the gift to the poor. I was encouraging and persuading the givers, that they might sow before them the seed of life, as it is written: “I will make known to the righteous and add to his instruction.” And everyone who loved the poor, I was urging him with these reminders, so that for you also a portion in his labor might be yours. Completed: On the Care for the Poor.