ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 PULELULU MA’ASI 4, 2026

DEUTERONOMY 14-16; Matthew 25:31-40

We see the beauty of the tenderness of the Lord in his compassion for the poor.

‘Oku tau mamata ki he masani mo e anga’ofa ‘o e ‘Otua ‘i he’ene manava’ofa ki he masiva. 

Philadelphia, where I have lived since 1987, has a homelessness problem. Thousands of homeless men and women live on the streets of my city. I encounter them almost everywhere I go. Sometimes they are begging for money, sometimes they have taken over a sidewalk with a temporary dwelling, sometimes they are angry and threatening, and sometimes they are asleep in a doorway or over the warmth of a grate. I wish I could say that I always meet them with compassion in my heart, but I can't. Sometimes I see them as a nuisance, in the way of what I want to do, and sometimes they make me angry. My problem isn't that homeless people exist; my problem is the coldness and selfishness of my heart. This means that I am not yet at the spiritual place where my heart mirrors the heart of my Lord.

That is why the following directives God gives Israel through Moses are instructive for me:

If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, "The seventh year, the year of release is near," and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, "You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land." (Deut. 15:7-11)

Pay attention to God's compassion-call to Israel:

"You shall not harden your heart... against your poor brother."

"Take care lest there be any unworthy thought in your heart."

"Your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him."

"You shall give to him freely."

"There will never cease to be poor in the land."

"Open wide your hand. to the needy and to the poor."

Imagine what would happen if we acted with the compassion portrayed in God's call to Israel. Think of how our response to the poor would change if we remembered the words of the apostle Paul: "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).