to give a man a fish

How many times have we heard the proverb, “if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”? Not sure where it came from, but it’s always seemed a pretty good principle to me. It screams empowerment and equality – good western ideologies. And with ministry in Africa, trying to empower people to be self-sustaining in their work and not depend on financial pipelines from overseas, it just makes sense, right?

That’s where I’m having a hard time. The above proverb is certainly not from the Bible. Jesus never tells the disciples to go teach people how to catch fish or harvest their fields or bake bread – he tells them to teach, but to teach about Him. Jesus himself doesn’t teach tricks of the trade, sustainable agriculture or the like. He feeds the multitudes and tells us to do the same. He says we should sell our possessions and give to the poor. In 2 Corinthians 8:13-15, Paul writes,

‘Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.”’

Whether it’s on the street or at our door, we have people asking for food and money on an almost daily basis. At Lusa, there is a dire need for money to get the center running to its full potential. Kids need sponsorships to go to school. We’re by no means rich, but the Lord has blessed us with plenty. How does He want us to use it? We’re trying to teach money management and develop income-generating projects at Lusa – and let me tell you – it’s exhausting. We often offer piecework to people who come to the door. Sometimes we give a loaf of bread or money to buy mealie-meal. But we also find ourselves saying “no” a lot. We really struggle with what we should do – where we should give.

The country of Zambia has benefitted from a pipeline of charitable funding for so many years that it seems to have crippled much of the country. People have gotten so used to having the fish given to them that they’ve stopped casting their nets themselves. Many parents don’t seem to even try to pay their kids' school fees – they’ve learned instead how to ask for sponsorships. This is by no means everyone. There are people who work hard, tirelessly, to provide for their families and manage money wisely. But (please excuse any bitterness here) there are also a lot of people who wander the streets waiting for someone with white skin to give them money, regardless of actual need. Kids seem especially “trained” in this. We see kids who are well-dressed and clean, coming from school, who see us and walk up and say “give me 5 pin” (equivalent of a dollar), just because they’ve apparently learned it might work.

So I’m grappling. What would Jesus do? Would he teach a man to fish, or just give him the fish? It seems that in his parables about himself, he also teaches about farming and fishing and bread-making and so on – but were those just examples the people would understand, or was he intending to teach about Himself while teaching how others are to sustain themselves? Are we supposed to give everything to the poor, essentially becoming poor ourselves, or do we teach in a way that enables the poor to escape poverty? Do we give to anyone and everyone, or try to discern true need? Is it up to us? Even Jesus drew a line here. After teaching and healing many in Capernaum, the people tried to get Jesus to stay, but He knew He was to preach the good news in other towns as well. There may have still been physical needs among the people, but He had taught the Word and knew it was time to move on.

I’m still wrestling with this, especially as we look at our purpose here. Do we give as an open door to sharing the true gift of life? Do we teach with the same intent? To meet a physical need without meeting the more important spiritual needs would supersede the Gospel message. The greatest commandment is to love God; only after which comes the mandate to love others. But as I heard once in a quote, people won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. What is the balance of giving and teaching and sharing Christ? How do we respond in love? To what extent does love include tough love and accountability? Most of all, we find ourselves constantly asking, what would Jesus do?

We would love to hear your thoughts.