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| Above: Photo of late 19th-early 20th century workhouse girls in the Southwell Union Workhouse museum Below right: one of the dormitories in the workhouse |
There was universal condemnation recently of a British
lawyer who called a 13 year-old girl a sexual predator during the trial of a 41
year-old man who had abused her. The act may have been consensual, but it
wasn’t responsible on the man’s part. She was vulnerable, seeking attention and
love; sometimes we have a duty to say no.
In other trials defence lawyers were accused of harassing
rape victims, regardless of their feelings; one witness committed suicide after
her courtroom ordeal. There were also reports about cyber bullying and a lack
of care and compassion in some hospitals. Such stories offend human
sensibilities, and if there is one indisputable and universal rule of social
conduct in the Bible, it’s that vulnerable people are to be protected. The
strong are to care for the weak.
We’re all vulnerable
The list of vulnerable people is long: children; teenagers
pushing boundaries; elderly, sick and infirm people; physically and mentally
disabled people; unemployed people (there are 2.5m unemployed in the UK and not
enough suitable jobs to go round); people on low incomes facing rent, fuel and
transport price rises; people who lose out to unscrupulous scammers. If you
think of more, add them in the comments box below.
Then add yourself, because we’re all vulnerable. Not just at
low spots in our lives, but we’re liable to make mistakes and errors of
judgment at any time. That fact is at the heart of the Christian message. God
knew our spiritual vulnerability and sent his Son to give us fresh starts and
fresh strength: “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person,” Paul
argues, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8).
The apostles were in no doubt about the implications: “Dear
friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John
4:11). A care-less Christian is a contradiction in terms.
Survival of the
weakest
There have always been ruthless people who trample on others
to gain wealth or power. The biblical narrative recognises this from the
beginning, and makes clear provision to curb its excesses. Competition is fine
in sport, but in society all are born equal; selfishness spawns suffering,
competition creates corruption. 
There was no civic welfare system in the ancient world.
(Indeed, there was virtually none except the workhouse in the UK until the
“welfare state” was introduced in the mid 1940s; one such is pictured right.) So people most at risk –
widows, orphans and disabled people with no male supporter, and immigrants who
had settled in the land (called “aliens” or “strangers” in some Bibles) – were
singled out for special care from the wider family and community. Those who
failed to care were said to be subject to God’s judgement. References are
below.
Jesus demonstrated his compassion for marginalised people in
his miracles and teaching. He promoted the protection of children, and
threatened their users and abusers with judgement. He castigated posh people
who neglected the poor. The mid-20th century American spiritual
writer, A.W. Tozer, pointedly remarked, “The Pharisees were bad not because
they entertained their friends but because they would not entertain the poor
and the common” people.1
In the early church the first “order” of ministers (deacons),
apart from the generally-recognised apostles, was not to feed the soul but the
body, forming a structured welfare service for needy members (Acts 6:1-6). The
New Testament is littered with injunctions to act kindly and share
compassionately. There is just one cautionary note. Then, as now, a minority tried
to take advantage of other people’s generosity. The solution was neither to despise
needy people and label everyone as scroungers, nor to withdraw benefits, but to
create what was then a culturally appropriate form of means testing (1 Timothy
5:9-16).
An obligation, not an
option
In the Bible care for vulnerable people is an obligation,
not an option; a priority, not an afterthought. Then, of course, charity did
begin at home, with extended family and clan members obliged to shoulder
responsibility for sometimes distant relatives, but the wider community chipped
in too. In today’s different social environment we can’t shunt all welfare
needs onto smaller and fragmented family units; community responsibility
remains. We are our brothers’ keepers.
Throughout history Christians have been at the forefront of
charitable support. They still are. For example, Green Pastures provides
accommodation for 450 homeless people around the UK and has just announced its
desire to encourage every church to have a house for homeless people.2
The Trussell Trust which oversees food banks, many of them staffed and
supported by church members, claims 13m people in Britain live below the
poverty line and in 2012-13 has provided emergency supplies for 346,992 people
of whom 126,889 were children.3 Currently the Archbishop of
Canterbury is encouraging local churches to help to develop more credit unions so
that people on the edge of survival can avoid exorbitant pay-day loan companies
and sharks4.
The needs are as great as ever, but the attitudes of many
people, Christians and some parts of the media and government included, seem to
have hardened, perhaps because of the stress of coping with recession
themselves. When the UK faced the privations of the second world war, its now
elderly survivors speak of everyone helping each other out. Perhaps that spirit
needs to be rekindled, and who better to do it than Christians whose primary
commandments are to love God and to love their neighbour as themselves.
Think, study and talk
Look up some or all of the following passages and put into
your own words the principles which they enshrine. Discuss with others, or
write down on your own, possible contemporary applications for each one. Then
ask how these principles and applications may suggest changes to your current
attitudes and actions.
1. God’s care for vulnerable people:
Deuteronomy 10:17-19; Psalm 10:18, 146:9
2. How to care for vulnerable people:
Deuteronomy 24:14-15,17-22; 26:12; Romans 12:13’ 1 Thessalonians 5:14; James
1:27-2:73. Examples of care: 2 Samuel 4:4, 9:1-13; Luke 10:25-37; Acts 4:32-35, 6:1-6
4. Jesus’ acts of compassion: Matthew 19:13-15; Luke 7:11-15, 8:26-39, 13:10-17, 17:11-17, 18:35-43, 19:1-10
5. Warnings against exploiting vulnerable people: Exodus 22:22-23; Deuteronomy 27:19; Isaiah 1:23-26, 10:1-4; Amos 2:6-8, 4:1-2, 5:11-15; Matthew 18:5-9, 23:23-24; James 5:1-6
References
1. A.W. Tozer, We travel an appointed way, OM
Publishing, 1992, p.802. http://greenpastures.net/
3. http://www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects
4. My colleague Ian Black provides a perspective on this at http://canonianblack.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/strapped-for-cash.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/jleIP+(Ian+Black)
