Satisfying the needs of the oppressed

“Spending yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfying the needs of the oppressed…” Isaiah 58:10

What does it look like to “spend myself in behalf of the hungry and satisfying the needs of the oppressed?”

As a part of Leadership Pikes Peak, I was to role play a scenario. I was a single parent, with two children, ages 6 months and 7 years. I needed to find shelter for myself and my kids, food, diapers, and a restraining order, and I only had $50.00. I visited the Soup Kitchen. When I asked a security guard how to obtain a restraining order and how I might get diapers, he gave me a detailed explanation about how to get both. But when he stated that the restraining order would be $85.00 I could not help but release a heavy sigh. When he left, the man across from me, another guest of the Soup Kitchen, reached out his hand, introduced himself, and offered me his phone number and to call him anytime, if I needed help. What??? He knew nothing about me…if I was crazy, if I would call and bug him all day every day, if someone was out to get me and that might put him in danger (remember, he heard me asking about a restraining order!), if I would beg him for money. He only knew this lady across from him was in trouble, in need, and seemed to be alone and scared. And he offered himself. No strings, no restrictions, no asking me for a long winded history or explanation. He just offered to spend himself on my behalf, “I don’t know your circumstances ma’am, but if you need help, you call me, anytime.”

That’s not how I spend myself. That’s too generous. That’s not safe or smart. That’s not holding the other person accountable. That might hinder their self-sufficiency.

But that’s not how it felt. It felt so caring, so loving, so accepting and non-judgmental…like he wasn’t thinking about himself and the cost, but that he cared that someone, a stranger, was hurting and in need, and he offered what he could…himself… “Spending yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfying the needs of the oppressed…” Isaiah 58:10 I don’t think he had a lot of money or tangible resources – he too was a guest of the Soup Kitchen. But what he did have, he offered. And it was the most generous gift.

How am I to spend myself in behalf of the “least of these” as Jesus directed in Matthew 25:31-46? Probably not as I have been, with conditions and parameters and concerned first with myself (comfort, safety, cost – time and resources). Jesus probably envisioned reaching out more like Andreas, my fellow guest at the Soup Kitchen, who was willing to befriend me, a stranger in need, without counting the cost, but simply responding in personal generosity, spending himself, in behalf of a stranger in need.

~Michelle Swanson

Community Ministry Coordinator

First Presbyterian Church