Some thoughts about right hands, left hands and charity

“And when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”  Such a statement should be convicting to the world of Christian poverty alleviation (missions, development, and relief).   Concealment of “good deeds” is not a standard practice of the day.  In fact, we much more prefer the teaching “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  We live in a mass-communication, social media-drenched world where newsletters, blog posts, Twitter accounts, Facebook statuses, video presentations and countless other forms of media are used to let the whole world know what our right hand is doing.  Such a tendency is not limited to organizations.  We as individuals love to share what our hand is giving, teaching, painting, designing, treating, building and serving to the poor.  I do not judge the practice of informing; however, we must ponder the value of withholding specifics about what we are doing. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs, “when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4)  This teaching is often taken as a call to personal piety; a command to secrecy so as to avoid becoming like self-righteous hypocrites who publicly broadcast their charity “so that they may be honored by men.” (Matthew. 6:2) No doubt this is major to Christ’s point.  Faith requires good works, (James 2:14-26) yet the ‘what’ of our actions is matched, or perhaps superseded, in importance by the ‘how’ and ‘why’.  I can do a very good deed yet undermine its goodness with a bad method and selfish intention.  Like all things Jesus, he wants us to begin and end our charity with an examination of our own hearts.  However, I believe such a teaching goes beyond our own heart’s sake and considers the practical effectiveness of our giving as well.

Within Jesus’ statement is the implied assumption that followers of God will give to the poor.  He does not say “if you give to the poor” but rather “when you give to the poor.”  In other words, the left hand should know that the right hand is doing something even if it does not know what that something is.  As I am finding in my personal situation, giving is oftentimes less complicated when it is less known.  Over the past four years Syria has descended into a nightmare of war and violence, leaving many dozens of my Syrian relatives displaced.  One would be right to expect that my parents, siblings and I find ways to help; it is what any Christ follower would do.  We desire to “fix” problems for suffering loved-ones, but our limited resources cannot extend to the overwhelming need in front of us.  The reality is some receive more help, some receive less help, and some receive no help.  We risk fracturing relationships if this giving is not navigated wisely. 

Subtle charity is a protective measure to minimize awkwardness, misunderstandings and tensions within highly convoluted poverty contexts.  All conditions of human suffering contain emotional and political fuses (even among blood relatives).  The combination of big need and limited material resources too often ignites aid and development situations, which hardly causes anyone to glorify our father in heaven.  Fortunately there is no shortage of good deeds that remain utterly harmless.  Gestures as simple as a smile, listening ear and encouraging word can shine bright in a place where despair is intense and resources are thin. Even so, we must give to the poor, and we must give materially.  Whether it is on an individual or a collective level, we will be wise to heed the instructions of Christ in practicing subtle giving.  We may actually be surprised to find how effective charity can be when it is removed from the spotlight. 

I wonder what it would look like if Christian organizations gave to the poor in such a way that the left hand does not know what right hand is doing.  What if newsletters provided no statistics, websites offered no testimonies, social media statuses made no pronouncements, videos shared no riveting messages and presentations gave no detail about how the poor are being served?  No doubt many of us in the field would ask, “How will we get donors to support our work?” But will the God who sees what we do in secret and rewards us, not also provide for His work to be done?  We may wonder, “What about our public and open witness of Christ among the poor?”  Will not the recipients of good see what they have received and credit their fortune as an extension of God’s blessing?  Or perhaps we will think, “What of our edification to the global Church.  Shouldn’t they know what we do so that they may be encouraged?”  Surely the Church has faith that Christ’s body is living out scripture’s command to serve the poor and oppressed; this should be assumed.  Perhaps Jesus is telling us to simply concentrate on the serving and let the Holy Spirit do the fundraising, informing and witnessing. 

I do not mean to judge the practices of many organizations and individuals doing excellent work to address human suffering with the compassion of Christ.  My own actions fall far too short of Biblical standard to allow me the license to judge others.  However, when it comes to poverty alleviation, I maintain that the methods of the Sermon on the Mount should be more than just theoretical.  There is a methodology of aid, relief and development that we must consider.  Limiting our exposure on all ends may not lead to a high profile among others, but Jesus has quite a bit to say about that matter.  Perhaps one of the greatest compliments we can receive when serving the poor, as an individual or a collective, is for someone to come alongside us and comment, “Wow, I didn’t realize you do all that!”