Who Do We Help?

We live in a world full of poverty and oppression. There is real, soul-crushing need out there, and everyone's asking for help. You see it when you open the news. If you ever give any money to any aid organization, you'll get mail from all of them, eager to tell you about the deep needs they're trying to meet. It can be both heart-breaking and perplexing: What can I do? You're only one person, you only have so much money. When there's so much real poverty in the world, who do we help?

The question is further complicated when we listen to some of the voices out in the world. I recently ran into a quote from the (in-)famous ethicist Peter Singer¹ insisting that our obligation is to give to whomever has the most need, and in Western societies, that is not your neighbor but people on the other side of the world. Many people find his argument compelling, so that again raises the question of who we should give to.

As I've read through the gospels this year, I see a pattern, and in that pattern, I think Jesus is answering that question for us.

In the first chapter of Mark, after his baptism and temptation, Jesus went to Capernaum. Visiting the synagogue, he taught and then freed a demon possessed man. He went to Simon's house and healed his mother-in-law. "That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons ..." (Mark 1:32-34).

It seems really minor, but I think it's important: Again and again, we see Jesus heal people he came across or people who were brought to him. He did not heal everyone in the world, everyone in Galilee, or even everyone in a town.

He could have. The gospels make it clear distance was no object to him. Jesus healed the Syrophoenician Woman’s daughter without ever seeing her (Mark 7:24-30), and the centurion's servant without meeting either of them (Luke 7:1-10). Moreover, we know Jesus could know things about people who were not in his presence (John 1:45-48).

This suggests to me that our primary responsibility lies with those right in front of us. And that's consistent with what we see elsewhere in the New Testament.

Your first duty is to take care of your family. "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1Tim 5:8).

Jesus said to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31) but to love other believers "as I have loved you"(John 13:34), with the kind of self-sacrificial love shown by Christ. So Paul said to "do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal 6:10 ESV).

So our first duty is to our household, then to our other family, then to the household of faith, our family in Christ. Then, I would say, the poor around us.

We also have to remember our goal is not merely to meet physical needs but to shine the light of Christ in our good works (Matt 5:16). The poor widow on the other side of the world needs help, but so does the widow in your town, and in helping her you can show her the love of Christ. A donation to a faceless international aid organization will not earn you the opportunity to share the gospel with someone who needs to know Christ.

I'm not saying we should never give money to aid those in faraway places. Personally, I find it deeply offensive that, in the 21st century, people still do not have access to clean water, so I have to give to that cause. But when we feel overwhelmed by the need of so many, I think the example of Jesus tells us the best place to do good works is right in front of us.


1 from Singer's "Famine, Affluence, and Morality"

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