The Haitian Situation, Part 1
Luke 4:31-44 and Jeremiah 1:4-19
February 14, 2010
One month and two days have passed since Haiti was struck by the wrath of Mother Nature’s unveiled power. In the past 33 days we have become more informed of our Caribbean neighbor nation than we perhaps ever would have without the earthquake. We have read stories in newspapers, we have seen live action reports from TV journalists, we have viewed images both tragic and triumphant, we have scanned the internet for on-the-ground photos and videos which document the unending house of horrors that Haiti has seemingly become. Our individual eyes, our nation’s eyes, the world’s eyes are affixed on the predicament in Haiti.
I too have scoured our information corridors seeking to find hope and promise in the midst of the destruction; and stories of wonder do abound: the boy who survived two weeks under rubble, the man who was rescued after almost a month of entombment, the tireless exertions of humanitarian workers, the countless millions of dollars of aid donated by average, ordinary, kind people.
All of these moments, images and stories help us to connect with the desperate situation in Haiti; and connecting with our fellow Haitians, even if only emotionally, is an admirable step in the global relief efforts. After all, if one first allows compassion for other people into their hearts, they are more likely to be generous in other ways as well.
However, of the myriad stories emanating from Haiti, the one that has stayed with me longest, that has forced me to think more deeply and critically about the earthquake and its aftermath was not a story of a life saved, or one of bountiful generosity. It was one of satire.
Many of you, I am sure, are not familiar with the satirical newspaper called The Onion. It can be a rather crude publication but nevertheless, its alternative view of the world can be quite provocative. A recent article contained this headline: “Bald Eagle Tired of Everyone Just Assuming it Supports War.”
Its main article after the earthquake in Haiti was titled this: “Massive Earthquake Reveals Entire Island Civilization Called ‘Haiti.’”
The following are some excerpts from the article:
“PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI—Less than two weeks after converging upon the site of a devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake, American anthropologists have confirmed the discovery of a small, poverty-stricken island nation, known to its inhabitants as "Haiti."
Located just 700 miles off the southeastern coast of Florida, the previously unaccounted-for country is believed to be home to an estimated 10 million people.
Even more astounding, reports now indicate that these people have likely inhabited the impoverished, destitute region—unnoticed by the rest of the world—for more than 300 years.
[the article continues…]
"That an entire civilization has been somehow existing right under our noses for all this time comes as a complete shock," said University of Florida anthropology professor Dr. Ben Oliver, adding that it appeared as if Haiti's citizens had been living under dangerous conditions even before the devastating earthquake struck. "Of course, there have been rumors in the past about a long-forgotten Caribbean nation whose people struggle every day to survive, live in constant fear of a corrupt government, and endure such squalor and hunger that they have resorted to eating dirt. But never did we give them much thought."
Added Oliver, "Had it not been for this earthquake, I doubt we would have ever noticed Haiti at all.””
“Had it not been for this earthquake, I doubt we would have ever noticed Haiti at all.”
This insight has given birth to many questions that have been disturbing me for the past month. Why have we been so blind to the troubles and turmoil of a nation only 600 miles from our country’s border? Is it because we believe our resources can only be extended so far? Is it because we have concerns in our own lives? Is it because poor people make us uncomfortable? Is it because it’s easier to assume poor nations suffer from poverty because they brought it upon themselves, thus we can ignore their situations? Is it because we don’t have the time or energy? Is it because their poverty is so absolute that the time it would take to redeem Haiti is longer than we can endure?
Why has the poverty of Haiti that is so near to us, been so blind to us? Granted many of us have known of the plight of our neighbor nation, yet it is only when disaster strikes and hundreds of thousands of people are dead that we begin to feel like we can and should be involved in understanding their situation.
In September of 2008 there was a brief National Geographic article on the condition of the soil in Haiti. It described how the ravaging of the land and earth prevented crops from growing and the nation had trouble feeding itself. The main photo was of a Haitian, slick up to the elbow in mud, patting together small, round three inch cakes made of wet dirt mixed with a little bit of salt and vegetable oil. These dirt cakes could be eaten for a tiny bit of sustenance or sold for meager amounts of money.
The image was shocking. Human beings living in a tropical climate where food should be abundant were forced by nature and instincts of survival to eat dirt. Yet while this image has been a powerful point of reflection for me, it did not spur action on behalf of the Haitian people and quickly left the forefront of my mind.
Why is it that we can so easily forget the suffering of others? Does our relative comfort here in the wealthy country of the United States in some way make it more difficult for the poverty around the world to stir us deep within our souls?
The death toll of the earthquake in Haiti is fast approaching the same number of people who died in the Asian tsunami of 2004. At the time of the tsunami, I was serving a church in Tucson, Arizona and remember sitting quietly in a Social Justice committee meeting as we discussed how to respond to the crisis. One of the men on the committee had this to say: “You know the true disaster here is not simply that 200,000 people have died. It is that we as Christians knew that millions of people were living in squalor; we knew that their houses were unstable and insufficient, and yet we never did anything about it. If the millions and millions of dollars of post-tsunami recovery money had been spent before the tsunami, to reinforce and rebuild houses, to provide safe places to live and work, many, if not most, of these deaths could have been prevented.”
Surely this wisdom echoes in the aftermath of Haiti’s desolation.
One of the difficulties in preparing a sermon on the Haitian situation is being comprehensive, both theologically and historically. Theologically, in order to understand who God is, one must understand the role of God as one who casts out the demons of poverty; and in order to understand the demons of poverty, one must understand why poverty exists, how it is increased and diminished, and its historical background, which is unique to different people in different places.
Unfortunately, a proper discussion on the particular poverty of Haiti can not be contained in our time today. We will save that for next week. Today, we need simply to understand and reinforce the notion that our God is a God who desires the liberation of people from poverty as our passages today suggest.
In the Hebrew Scriptures we hear today the calling of the boy Jeremiah to be a prophet of God. He is the one who will speak truth to the Israelite nation, to tear down their abuses of power.
It is Jeremiah’s duty to inform to people and leaders of ancient Israel that they have fallen from the path of God and they will be destroyed and overthrown if their actions are not corrected. Later in the book we learn that one of the crucial ways the Israelites have offended God is by not caring for those in poverty in their society.
Have you ever thought about poverty in this way? That the more poverty there is in the world, the more God is offended at the world; in particular at the people who have the power to make positive changes but who do not act in favor of the poor.
In chapter 22 of Jeremiah we with hear these words: “Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place (Jeremiah 22:3-4).”
A little further on, the cause of the poor is again elevated in God’s instructions through Jeremiah.
Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? says the Lord. (Jeremiah 22: 15b-16)
To know God is to understand the poverty in the world. To know God is to care for the suffering. To know God is seek answers to the situation in Haiti—why have so many people been so destitute for so long, how can we partner with them to ease their pains.
Our New Testament text from Luke follows a similar theme. Jesus first casts out a demon from a man in a synagogue in Capernaum then proceeds to cure Simon’s mother-in-law and heal all kinds of people with various kinds of illnesses.
When we hear of Jesus’ healings today, frequently we consider them to be simply medically helpful. In fact, if someone was possessed by a demon, or was ill or sick, they were considered a lesser member of the community. They were simply one more mouth to feed that couldn’t help with the daily chores, agricultural production or manual labor. They were poor, sick and lame and Jesus not only heals their wounds but reintegrates them into their families and communities.
If you remember back two weeks ago, we learned of Jesus’ words at the very start of his ministry when he read from the scroll of Isaiah. They are words that spoke to very heart of his ministry. These are the words that summarize what Jesus viewed as his ultimate goal:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free (Luke 4:18)
The very center of Jesus’ ministry focuses on bringing good news to the poor. We must never forget this central aim of his ministry or let other goals take its place. Understanding poverty, combating poverty, triumphing over poverty, in places both near to us and far, are central pillars in the Christian faith and thus, we must never allow places suffering from the extremes of impoverishment—places like Haiti—to recede to back of minds and faith.
The words I have spoken today may seem obvious, they may seem redundant to many of us who consistently and patiently work for the elimination of poverty on God’s good earth. But they are ones we must always carry with us, lest in our relative wealth and comfort we begin to forget that overcoming poverty is God’s hope for the world.
Next week we will focus on exactly why Haiti was in the situation it was in before the earthquake awoke our senses to their hardships. But for now, for this week, my hope is that we can again implant anew in our faith God’s hope and promise for the impoverished in our world. Because if we, as people called by the love of God to live with compassion and justice won’t do it, who will? Amen.
“Massive Earthquake Reveals Entire Island Civilization,” The Onion, http://www.theonion.com/content/news/massive_earthquake_reveals_entire, accessed February 11, 2010,
Joel K. Bourne, “Dirt Poor: Haiti has lost its soil and the means to feed itself,” National Geographic, September 2008, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/soil/bourne-text.html, accessed February 11, 2010.
