Rend Your Heart, by Jan Richardson
Day 17 : Homelessness | Provide the Poor Wanderer with Shelter
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? – Isaiah 58: 6,8
Scripture is direct and clear.
Continuing on in our passage from Isaiah 58 this week, we see that in addition to sharing their food with the hungry, God says to his people, “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: is it not to share your food with the hungry and provide the poor wanderer with shelter?” These two mandates are spoken in the same breath, expressing the same heart of God, which makes sense; food insecurity and homelessness often go hand-in-hand.
Homelessness can seem overwhelming when we think about how we can help. Providing “the poor wanderer with shelter” might feel much more complex than sharing our food or clothing. But God’s heart is for his people to have a home – all people, all whom he created in his image and therefore imbued with dignity.
He brought Abraham and Sarah into the place he had for them; he brought the Israelites back home again after their desert wanderings, and he brought them home once more after the exile. Putting down roots, stability, and a place to build a life: all these things matter to God, because he knows they are key to human dignity and flourishing. Home matters. Real matters.
The painting (yes, painting!) you see above is called Clearance, by James Earley. Earley paints people who are experiencing homelessness as a way to bring dignity to his subjects, and to raise awareness of homelessness. If you zoom in to look at the white detail on the man's jacket, you will see a barcode, representing the idea that this man could be for treated as an object on clearance sale. Under the bar code, it says "Mt 25:35-40."
It’s crucial that we see people experiencing homelessness as, first of all, just that: people, just like you and me. We are not as many steps away from homelessness as we might think. In fact, the biggest cause of people experiencing homelessness today is actually a “catastrophic loss of family.” Many of us have probably experienced the loss of a job and used up our savings, or had to borrow money for a deposit on an apartment. In those times, we had biological family, spiritual family, or good friends to help us out. People experiencing homelessness often don’t have that safety net, and that is the primary difference.
What about addiction and mental illness? Again, the safety net of a family, spiritual or biological, plays an enormous role. Addiction and mental illness happens to people of all socio-economic spheres, but it’s the ones without the social safety net who end up experiencing homelessness most of the time. That means most people experiencing homelessness are very alone in the world.
But God’s heart is that no one would be alone in that way. He tells us to provide the poor wanderer with shelter, so how can we be part of ending homelessness or shortening homelessness? How can we be part of preventing it in the first place?
“And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.'” – Matthew 8:20
It is believed that Jesus himself was actually homeless as an adult. He did not own real estate. Did he ever rent a home? Scripture never mentions that he had a home of his own, but makes many references to the times he slept in other people’s homes. He wasn’t on the streets; he had a safety net of family and friends, even some strangers, who took him in and provided a roof over his head. Matthew 8 is explicit about Jesus' homelessness.
What does that mean for us today? It means that Jesus is very near to those experiencing homelessness. It means that he knows what it is like to wake up in the morning, and not be certain sometimes where he will lay his head that night. It means that when we draw near to those experiencing homelessness, we draw near to Christ. It means “that Jesus counts himself among the least of these. When we care for the poor, it is as if we care for our Lord himself."*
This week we will learn more about homelessness and the ways that we can participate in caring for those without shelter – and participate in true fasting – not only this Lent, but for the whole of our lives.
If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. – Leviticus 25:35-36
Interested in learning more? Here is a M25i resource on a theological reflection on homelessness. We commend this reading as a part of this week's should shaping and prayer. Read prayerfully.