Helping the needy was a central activity of Jesus during His short public ministry. Whether He was healing the sick, feeding the poor, even raising the dead, we see Jesus helping the needy in various ways. In fact, his reputation for helping the needy spread, and great crowds would come to be healed or fed (Matthew 14:14). But is helping the needy why He came?
The modern-day “mission trip” is in some ways modeled after Jesus helping the needy. For many young Christians, a ‘mission trip’ is almost a rite of passage. However, even if these were originally inspired by spreading the gospel to others, some mission trips today don’t include much teaching. The emphasis is really on helping the needy. Some even advertise as “non-religious“.
Was helping the needy why Jesus came…or even part of why He came to earth?
How Scripture answers "Was helping the needy why Jesus came to earth?"
Scripture shows us that helping the needy is not why Jesus came to earth1,2,3,4,5. In fact, Jesus explicitly says not to think that4! His purpose was spiritual1,4, and only spiritual2. The several “negative instances”2,4,5 shine a spotlight on this fact. Not to mention, if helping the needy were why He came then He failed miserably given the fact there are still poor and needy (just as He promised5). This is very similar to popular ideas regarding the “peace on earth” that Jesus brought. Instead, we should remain focused on why Jesus did come to earth.
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