For three glorious months in 1999 I woke up, dressed and ate breakfast in the little flat in Kathmandu, Nepal, where Lyndall and I were staying.Then I would walk to the corner of the Pulchowk Road, and walk or catch a bus, tuktuk or autorickshaw to the school where I was teaching. Between our flat and the road was a patch of waste ground. It was full of garbage, and dogs, cows and pigs snuffling through it for food scraps. Local people burned their rubbish here, and an open drain flowed along one side.

Every day two children played on this patch of wasteground. One of them about 5 years old and the other about 3. Their mother sat nearby on the corner of the busy Pulchowk Road, cooking popcorn in a tin cup on a small kerosene burner. Once it was cooked she wrapped the hot popcorn into twists of newspaper and sold it to passers-by, for 3 rupees a go (about 8 cents).

A decent meal for her and her children would have cost around 30 rupees. Life for her was pretty close to the edge.

And it struck me that I was walking out the door of our flat and straight into Scripture:

There was a rich men who dressed in the finest clothes and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate, was a poor woman…

Luke 16:19 (slightly modified)

I am a rich man. I’ve never gone hungry, except by choice. I have an abundance of life’s material riches. And here I was, walking every day past someone in need. How did we respond? We bought popcorn every day from the woman, and shared it with her children whenever they were around.

But even now, back in Australia, the story still challenges me. When Jesus tells the story of the beggar Lazarus and the rich man, he reverses their order of importance. We learn the name of the beggar in the story - Lazarus - but the rich man remains anonymous. How much more important do I think my own desires are than the needs of the poor?

And through this stark story of judgement on lives lived well (Lazarus) or badly (the rich man) Jesus challenges me to respond to God’s heart for the poor - which I find everywhere revealed in the Old Testament: “Moses and the Prophets”. And, in responding to the poor, to respond to him - the one who was raised from the dead.

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