DISQUS

Jason Winton · 2 months ago

The thing I like about this story is how it "turns the tables" on the question, "Would you treat Jesus like this?" It makes me wonder how the stranger responded to her when she caught up to him.

But I'm puzzled as well. Does this story deconstruct soup kitchens? Or does it deconstruct majority power structures/ownership, which many times are a part of feeding the hungry? I couldn't help but think of Mother Teresa when reading this story. She seems to have had a very mature understanding of the "least of these" (similar to yours?). Yet she fed and clothed and housed and visited the "least of these" whether they were His brethren or not. I just read a passage in Come Be My Light (her private writings before and after she began the MC) where she references a dying man who asks God for a few more weeks to live because he just learned how to suffer for God (versus simply suffering for a disease), thanks to Mother Teresa. And, of course, Mother Teresa was used this way as a poor person herself and often times without the physical means readily available to carry it out. Any thoughts about the way she lived out Jesus' life and example?

paul munn · 2 months ago

Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan tells us to help whoever we meet in need, whether they're our "brethren" or not. So I think Teresa was definitely following Jesus in that.

The soup kitchen approach, though, always includes the ongoing need for fundraising and also maintaining the approval of the surrounding community who allows the ministry to continue there. And that raises difficulties. It's hard to find parallels with Jesus' life and ministry. Jesus remained personally and organizationally poor (thus avoiding the temptations of managing the accumulated resources of a charitable institution). And the people who came to Jesus experienced the unique and powerful discovery that God had helped them not through the wealth or power of human beings but through their own faith in God. "Your faith has made you well," Jesus often told them. Material goods passed on through a soup kitchen doesn't give that.

I think Mother Teresa (and Francis also) were obviously inspiring and good examples in many ways. I do wonder, though, whether certain aspects of the way they (and their followers) served people was more socially acceptable, allowing them a level of approval and support that Jesus didn't get. Jesus was crucified by the religious leaders of his society. Teresa and Francis, after their deaths, were quickly granted the official status of sainthood.

Jason Winton · 2 months ago

I like what you say about Jesus being both personally and organizationally poor. From what I can tell in reading about the first ten years of M. Teresa's MC, they did not have much (if any) substantive institutional support. She was given a designation of "sister," which might have granted her legitimacy but did not come with any material support. In fact, she writes that some in the convent where she came from had called the work she was doing "the devils work." But, in Christendom, we often "saintify" those who provoke us in order to pacify our conscience and our hearts.

Jason Winton · 2 months ago

One other thought, or rather, a question or two. The stranger in this story is pretty elusive and was run out of the kitchen. Why was he in the kitchen in the first place? And are there any modern examples of people who follow Jesus' way, the way that Jesus did? There's a part of me that thinks, "If Teresa and Francis weren't prophetic enough to preach 'the powerful discovery' you mentioned above, who can?" I know that is sort of a dull question (making them into more than examples?), but I want to be inspired/encouraged that Jesus takes on disciples today who believe and live the way he did.

paul munn · 2 months ago

I guess I think all of Jesus' followers have moments when we believe and live as he did. (Some more than others, perhaps, like Francis and Teresa.) But then we also sometimes make choices that are not much like Jesus' life. To discern that should only point us back to Jesus himself as the one we follow and help us adjust our choices to better ones, seeing that the limitations of our past (and the limitations we see in the lives of others) need not continue to bind us. Jesus always offers something more.

So I try to find inspiration and encouragement in those recognizable appearances of Christ in the lives of his body on earth (even if no one person embodies him perfectly). What's important is the signs of Jesus' presence and that it's him, not us. And I also like that he can work and be seen through anyone.

As for the stranger in the story (who I envisioned as homeless himself), I guess I'd say he was in the soup kitchen for a cup of coffee. And maybe a little evangelism.

win · 1 month ago

Helping the poor and needy is always a dilemma. There is such a thing as enabling. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a life time, ( unless he's a catch and release man) It is much easier to work a day or two in a soup kitchen, and then go home. Man does not live by bread alone. Developing a relationship with the"least of these" is more helpful and needed. The isolation many homeless face is worse than the hunger or lack of material things. These things they can get alleviate more readily, at least in western countries. A human relationship is more demanding and risky. When Jesus started preaching and didn't provide food and miracles, his following grew small. Those who just wanted free food or entertainment weren't interested. We don't have the ability to see inside of the soul or mind as Jesus did. Proceed at you own risk., but proceed with prayer and discernment. Just some thoughts from a catch and release man, ( mostly)

Aaron Paul · 1 month ago

I'd like to say that I saw Christ in the Stranger. His stance was not (from what I could tell) so much in direct opposition to soup kitchens. That, again, would be missing the heart! He seemed to be opposed to that subtle pride. It's not about "doing a good thing," but about being in submission to His will. A new creation. Our "righteous works" will not save us, let alone those around us. It's not what we do that makes us who we are. It's who He is inside of us that makes effective what we do! My mind might tell me to give a sandwich to a poor man begging for money. If the Holy Spirit was asking me to give that sandwich to a man in a 3 piece suit, would I hear it? God's ways are above man's ways as far as the heavens are above the Earth. I have no idea how many people might come to Christ as a (seemingly) indirect result of my sandwich being given in obedience as opposed to sacrifice. It's not so much about what you do as who you listen to. Let's make it a point to listen to the Holy Spirit over and above our own ideals. Amen.