You who have no money, come, buy and eat!
by Laura Tabbut
(former Savior member, now living in Ohio)
Recently, I went to our local Wal-Mart to buy a few groceries. As I stood in front of the produce, the woman next to me said: “These prices are so high.” She said out loud what I was thinking and feeling. I mentally calculated that the price of avocados had gone up 10% and the price of corn was up 40%. A few minutes later, we met each other again in the bakery where we were comparing the cost of bread. When I got home from the store, I relayed the story to Justin and did a little research.
Our county is surrounded by beautiful farmland, but the reality is that many households struggle with food insecurity. According to Feeding America, an estimated 14.8% of children in Knox County face food insecurity (more than double the percentage of children in DuPage County).
On our one-mile walk from home to work, I can count nine community programs and individual initiatives that address the issue of food insecurity. A family in our neighborhood has built a massive Little Free Pantry stocked with basic canned goods and toiletries. A church offers a free produce market on Saturday mornings. And just next door is one of the most dignifying programs in our community – our local library’s free Seed Library. I love this program because anyone regardless of income eligibility can give and receive from it. On one hand it is anonymous, but it also allows for people to share out of the abundance of what they can grow.
Little Free Pantry in Laura’s Ohio neighborhood.
This spring, knowing that our grocery budget would feel the pinch of inflation, we doubled the size of our garden. We got many of our seeds from the library. Our cucumber patch flourished. One Saturday in mid-July, I brought an excess of cucumbers with me to the farmers’ market. Frances, our 18-month-old, experienced the joy of giving away her cucumbers.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
The scripture passages in the Hallowed Be Thy Name series reflect the agrarian culture of Jesus’ ministry. Luke 13 discusses the fate of a fruitless fig tree; Matthew 15 upends the Pharisees’ legalism surrounding handwashing before meals and the eating of clean food; and Matthew 25 likens the Last Judgement to a shepherd who separates his sheep from his goats.
When Jesus started his earthly ministry, he announced: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19, NIV). It’s clear from the beginning that Jesus’ ministry focused on the least: the hungry, marginalized, sick, and enslaved. Matthew 25:40 states: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’ (Matthew 25:40 NIV). In serving the hungry, we begin to see the heart of Jesus. It is not co-incidental that the events of Holy Week come on the heels of Jesus’ final teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus’ generous sacrifice of himself is the greatest model for free and sacrificial giving to the least.
A note on the artwork for Hallowed Be Thy Name
The image chosen for this sermon series, The Thankful Poor, was painted by Henry Ossawa Tanner in 1894. Tanner was the first African-American painter to obtain international recognition. This painting sought to dignify the work and lives of African-Americans. It was also one of the first paintings in American culture to counter racial stereotypes. In many of Tanner’s paintings the angle of the lighting reveals the internal emotions of his subject. Tanner is best known for his painting of The Annunciation (1898), where the Angel Gabriel appears as a beam of light illuminating Mary. With The Thankful Poor, light from the window highlights the prayer of the grandfather but focuses its intensity on the young boy. I wonder, what emotions you see?
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859 - 1937), 1894, Medium: Oil on canvas