October 19 Romans 13: 8-10
I had a friend in university who, although a Christian, had a visceral dislike for poor people, government, Bill Clinton, liberals, and secular music.
When the Ontario Provincial government cut welfare payments by 22% before closing a major psychiatric hospital in Toronto, sending 1000s of people on to the street (literally), because, the government said that they needed to bring down the deficit, this fellow gloated.
“How can you be so gleeful about mentally ill people forced on to the streets? Haven’t you read Matthew 25 where Jesus said that Christians should make helping poor people a priority, or the Old Testament prophets who spoke on behalf of the most socially vulnerable in society?
He responded, “Haven’t you read the part in the bible where it says you should never go into debt?”
I’m assuming he paid cash for his house.
He was thinking of Romans 13: 8 “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves one another has fulfilled the law.”
I think he forgot the second part.
But I found his attitude appalling. He was, in effect, saying that homeless people and the mentally ill should pay off the deficit.
He’s not alone. We tend to think that we shouldn’t be asked to pay for anything if it helps someone other than ourselves. We don’t like love to cost us anything.
But Jesus shows us how much love costs. It cost Jesus his life. Should we expect that we should pay anything less?
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