On another thread Texas Wahine posted these Bible verses:
Matthew 25: 31-46
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.
32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
I have nothing to say concerning Texas Wahine and her posting these verses other than that she seems to me a good, honest person. I mention the fact that she posted them only to give proper attribution, and to thank her for doing so as it saves me the effort of typing them myself.
The point of the article is a comment upon the sentiment contained in the verses. And the comment is this - that those who cite these particular scriptures generally (please note the generally) do not appreciate what they actually mean.
Whereas I do because I have lived them. In the Christmas of 92 or 93 I was living in a town called Hull high up on the north east coast of England. I was at the absolute apogee of my Christian Zealot phase, where I lived, breathed, ate, drank, pissed and shat Jesus Christ throughout my every waking moment.
One of my favorite streets in Hull is Princes Avenue, and one night I and my then wife had taken a stroll (along Prinny Ave, as it was universally known), for what purpose I no longer remember. We met two street people; homeless, unwashed, drunk, belligerent, foul-mouthed. And we gave them a wide berth, avoiding even momentary eye-contact. Even as we walked around them I heard in my head the very verses that Texas Wahine cited. I burned with shame, thinking even as I passed them by "There goes my Lord".
You need to understand something about me. My sympathies have always lain with the underdog, the hopeless, and the lost. I am myself one of that Company, and regard it as no shame but a badge of honor. Long live all Rebels, Traitors, Perverts, Fools and Villains. And may God rot those who look down upon them.
And still, I passed by, with no word spoken.
We walked down Prinny Ave, and back again, arriving home to safety, warmth, comfort, peace. And I burned with shame. So I went back, ignoring the burgeoning terror in my wife's eyes, and I found the two of them on them street.
I stood in front of them and demanded (I would not be denied, I would atone for my selfishness, no matter what they wanted) that they come home with me. Which they did - and for two weeks I fed them, allowed them to wash themselves and their clothes, housed them when the weather was so foul I would not have left a dog on the street, let alone another human being, talked with them and learned their histories, dealt with the police for them: in short, facilitated every aspect of their existence.
This is not about ingratitude. They were never less than grateful, without ever demeaning themselves. It's not about the poor exploiting the State or the rich exploiting the poor. It's about the unintended and unforeseen consequences of a good act.
These two homeless people were a man and a woman who had been together for years. Had I not befriended them she would not have been raped. Had I not befriended them their years long partnership would not have been destroyed by the well-meant intervention of the agencies of the State, who first hospitalized Susan, then incarcerated her in a State institution while denying Marty all access to her. So far as I know she remains there still. Had I not befriended them they would, in all probability, still be together.
I know from watching the rapid and utter disintegration of Marty, after Susan's rape in a local park (which she would have not frequented at all before meeting me) that the consequences of my well-meant act were an utter catastrophe for him, and the death of the tenuous hold on reality that he still maintained through the person of Susan - who was by far the most stable of the two.
I was not to blame for what happened to them - but I was a causal agent in those events, because I allowed them to remain in the area, I facilitated an increase in their grip on the world that led them to believe that there was, perhaps, something good for them in the in the place in which I then lived.
They had intended to move on, the night I met them. Far better for both of them if they had.
I don't intend to discourage good deeds or charitable acts. But it's good to remember that 9 times out of 10, every attempt to help, to walk in the shoes of another and improve their lot, tends only toward tragedy and ruin.
As it did for Marty and Susan.
What point am I making? Only this - be wary how you help others. Because it's the mark of the Christian, as it is of the sucker, not to understand that even the very best of deeds does not go unpunished."
