The Rich and the Poor Need Each Other: Illumination from Shepherd of Hermas

The Rich and the Poor Need Each Other: Illumination from Shepherd of Hermas

Joyce Wai-Lan SUN

To many Christians, almsgiving and caring for the poor are biblical requirements and thus, natural responsibilities for every Christ follower. In the course of giving and receiving, however, those in need are often reduced to mere passive receivers who must look upon the sheer mercy of those who have. The poor are generally regarded as having nothing to give in return so any act of mercy can hardly serve to shorten the social distance between the rich and the poor.

This essay looks into the model of almsgiving envisioned in the Parable of the Elm and the Vine in the Shepherd of Hermas (chapter 51) and demonstrates how Hermas postulates the relationship between the rich and the poor as one of mutual interdependence and partnership in the works of God. It then contrasts Hermas's vision of the rich-poor relationship with that portrayed in the biblical tradition of “the pious poor” and “the wicked rich,” and the Roman culture of patronage. The essay concludes that the model of mutual interdependence advocated in the Shepherd of Hermas deserves to be given more thought by the churches in Hong Kong, in which membership including both the rich and the poor is even more commonplace now than in ancient times.