Who should we feel most sorry for - the homeless community who drinks on the street corner all day urinating and defecating in the alleys, or the business owner who works 80 hours a week and has invested his life savings in a struggling downtown restaurant?
When I posed this question to a member of the Coalition to End Homelessness in Macon his immediate response was - I will always answer, the homeless. When he said this I responded with another question: Is that the right answer? Head tilted, he looked at me as if I had asked the craziest question in the world! The discussion was good. The lines became less clear. Neither of us came to a black/white resolution.
The problem in answering the question is less theological for me than it is in the practical application of that theology...
It is true that both the business owner and the homeless addict share a common need - redemption and restoration. It is also true that the solution to their common problem of sin and separation is shared - Jesus.
It is true that both the homeless addict and the business owner are my neighbor and I am to love my neighbor as myself.
So - practically - what does it look like to love the homeless addict who spends the day begging in order to buy alcohol or drugs, uses on the street corner or in the alley, uses the alley as his rest room,...
AND
love the business owner who works hard in his store, employs others who work hard, and yet potentially loses customers because of the homeless addict and his public life?
Your thoughts?
