Building Mission into Society II

In my last post I explored the principle in Leviticus 19:9 - 10, showing how it builds mission into society, i.e. in the way you work you have conscious and intentional provision for the poor and disadvantaged.

In fact the concept goes even further than this. It enables such people to keep their own dignity by doing their own work to provide food for themselves. In other words instead of the farmer simply giving some of his hard earned crop away, which would be a fine thing, there is the invitation for others to actively share in the crop by harvesting from God's provision for themselves.

This would be especially poignant in a society where if you had no land, it would be difficult to work for yourself for such provision. The principle effectively 'lends' or 'spares' them some land from which to glean, enabling them to work just like other privileged people. If they work hard, they too can do quite well (as per the story of Ruth). This system thus levels the playing field, enabling privileged and unprivileged alike to work productively.

It is therefore a system of grace, operating on more than one level. And once again it is built into the normal rhythms of the society.