Evangelism Inside the Margins

Mark 12: 41-44 Luke 18:18-35

If you encountered a woman shabbily dressed and clearly in need standing next to a rich, upstanding member of the community, who would you share The Gospel with first? We live in an age where The Prosperity Gospel runs rampant, insidiously corrupting the thinking of well intentioned Christians everywhere. Many of us have accepted the notion that economically depressed is synonymous with spiritually dysfunctional. This ideology motivates many of us to leave our immediate neighborhoods, and cross over into the more dilapidated areas of our cities to tend to the spiritual needs of poor people, who have no money, and therefore no Jesus.

When we arrive, ready to evangelize, we find that the natives of the neighborhood we have come to save effortlessly enter into prayer, as comfortable as an immigrant who suddenly finds themselves in conversation in their homeland. The scriptures we fumble to find as we flip through our bibles, they recite like the chorus to their favorite song. The Jesus we intended to bring to those rejected and marginalized by this world, is present and thriving, demonstrated not in lives without financial obstacles, but heartfelt praise that God had provided for another day. 

Surely we can never be overly concerned about the poor, but where do our assumptions and fascination with a lack of excess leave the people we pass by, on our way those we assume in greater need of a savior? The successful man, his fancy car, his designer suit and his empty soul, the accomplished female doctor, with 3 degrees and a beautiful family and an imminent breakdown, and the average everyday student, complete with ipod and hundred dollar jeans who has never been told about God’s awesome plan of salvation are left behind because in our society the health of a person’s soul is determined by their ability to project fiscal stability. Meanwhile, the very things that indicate prosperity serve as obstacles to surrendering one’s life to God. 

The earlier mentioned, shabbily dressed woman, clearly in need represents the widow with two mites; a woman who had very little, but had such faith and gratitude for God that she was willing to give God everything. The rich upstanding man represents the rich young ruler whose love of and dependence on things thwarted his fellowship with Christ. Both stories demonstrate that class has no bearing on who is or is not in relationship with God. Our neighbors, those we pass in the halls, those we ride on the bus with, those we see in the supermarket, the mall, and even the Great Hall may have much bread to eat, yet we ignore the absence of the Living Bread in their lives. In some cases their yearning is so suppressed by “things” they are unaware that there is a greater truth to discover. We also fail to share because it is easier to share Christ with “the victim” than our peers.  No matter the case, as Christians we must remember our responsibility to go into all the world – not just the worn down parts- and make disciples of men and women. Souls know no wealth, but the saving power of Christ. Who will you make rich today?