You know the Chinese proverb: give a man a fish, and he won’t go hungry for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he won’t go hungry again. I agree with that statement, and that’s why I support efforts to help the poor that result in the valuation of honesty, work, and solid education. (Of course, some people are genuinely unable to work, which is why we need public and private programs to help those people in need.) But at the same time, I have to reconcile my life with the fact that Jesus told me through His word to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and heal the sick. (Continued on the jump)

As you know, I’ve been working down in San Francisco for the last couple of months. I grew up as an upper-middle class suburbanite in Marin and Sonoma counties. I was barely even aware of the fact that beggars and homeless people existed for much of my formative years. Yeah, I’d see the odd “bum” on the sidewalk once in a while on a trip downtown somewhere, but they were so far removed from my world it was little more than a blip on the radar. But things change. I’m much closer to the Lord now than I once was, and I’m currently living in a world where I pass by those “bums” multiple times every day. There’s actually a Goodwill just a couple of blocks from where I work. I can literally walk over homeless people and beggars any time I chose.

I could go through the rationale of not stopping to help or even talk to somebody like this until the cows come home, but I always end up in the same place. If I’m not willing to extend my hand if God wills it, then I’m not a follower of Jesus, but a hypocrite. Jesus wasn’t very nice to hypocrites.

Today, I walked past a homeless guy on my way to Whole Foods to pick up lunch as usual. I’ve never heard him say something to me before, but today as I walked past I thought I heard him mutter “could you give me a sandwich?” When I continued on, something inside of me started to burn and ache. I’m used to the general feeling of “oh I should do something” guilt, but I normally just ignore it. After all, I know all the reasons it’s silly to try to help these people. If they really needed help, there are institutions that do that sort of thing. I shouldn’t bother.

But today was different. In fact, I had a weird feeling God was up to something in me before I even left the office. So when I walked past this man and entered Whole Foods, I literally felt like if I didn’t buy him some food, I would be sinning. I don’t like to sin. So I look around and ended up buying a packaged chicken caesar salad (the sandwiches looked starchy and oftentimes poor people suffer from diabetes these days).

I walked back along my way, approached the man and introduced myself and told him I felt I needed to give him this food. In a completely normal and polite way, he shook my hand, told me his name, and thanked me. I said God bless you and walked on my way as he began to open the package.

I’m not ashamed to admit I was pretty scared doing this. I just don’t do things like this. I never really had the opportunity. My heart was racing. It was an unknown thing, and I don’t like unknown things. But the feeling of elation I felt as I walked back to the office was something I hadn’t felt since my baptism at Grace Fellowship last year. I didn’t just give food to a beggar, I gave food to Jesus. It’s in the Word. And I love obeying the Word.

No, I didn’t solve the man’s problems. I didn’t talk to him about Christ. I didn’t resolve the world’s hunger crisis. But I gave the man a fish, so to speak. He won’t go hungry today. And maybe next time as I walk past, we’ll both see Somebody we might not have seen in that place before. Someone with nail scars in His hands and feet. I’ll be looking.