Thursday 21 November 2013

Background

This is an incredibly powerful statement, especially living inthe current era. CNBC reported last month that "the top richest 1%of people own 46% of global assets" and the United Nations Food andAgriculture Organization estimates that "nearly 870 million peopleof the 7.1 billion people in the world, or 1 in 8, were sufferingfrom chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012". One of the nuances ofthese figures is that in Asia and the Pacific, there aresignificantly less hungry people than there were (about 40% less),but in developed countries, and in Africa, hunger has increased.There are 13 million hungry people in developed countries as Iwrite this. Therefore, we can do things. The hunger of people closeto home is much less of a task for us to tackle than those a longway away. What if we put people being fed as the absolute target ofthe next election? That no politician could expect to be voted forunless feeding the hungry was their number one priority? I dream ofcourse, but this passage tells us "their rust will be evidenceagainst you". The worst things that occur will not be swept underthe carpet.

In Matthew 25, we hear of the king returning andwe ask of him 'when did I see you hungry, and feed you?' And theking will reply 'just as you did it to one of the least of these,you did it to me'. The rapper Gil Scott-Heron once sang "nobody cando everything, but everybody can do something. And if everybodydoes something, then everything will get done." For me, thispassage says that if I have a tin of beans in the cupboard and myliteral neighbour does not, then they should have my tin.

To Ponder

• To what extent does the overwhelming nature of povertysometimes stop us from even approaching it?

• What can you do in simple and actual terms to help someone whois hungry?