Dr. Walther on the Pastor and Care for the Poor

That the concern for the poor belongs to the particular official responsibilities of the preacher is clear especially from Galatians 2:9–11 and Acts 6:1ff. As often, therefore, as our old theologians enumerate the official functions of a preacher, they also include care for the poor among those functions. Thus, for instance, Johann Gerhard: “There are in general seven duties or tasks of the minister of the Church, to which the rest can be easily reckoned: 1) the proclamation of the Word of God; 2) the administration of the Sacra- ments; 3) the intercession for the flock entrusted to them; 4) an honorable life; 5) the administration of church discipline; 6) the maintenance of church rites; 7) the care for the poor and the visitation of the sick” (Loc. Th. De Minister. Ecclesiasti, par. 265).

On this remarkable passage of Galatians 2:9–10, Luther remarks: “Next to the proclamation of the Gospel, it is the task of a good pastor to be mindful of the poor. For wherever the Church is, there must be poor people. Most of the time they are the only true disciples of the Gospel, as Christ says (Matthew 11:5): ‘The poor have the Gospel preached to them.’ For the poor will have the Gospel preached to them; and 1 Corinthians 1:27–28: ‘What is foolishness before the world,’ and so on [sic]. For both human beings and the devil persecute the Church and bring poverty upon many, who are then forsaken and to whom no one wants to give anything” (Walch 8:1762).4 Hartmann writes: “As in a flock, the sheep suffering need require greater and more ample help from their shepherd (Ezekiel 34:4).

Thus in parishes, suffering persons who are impoverished, particularly if they are ill, widows, orphans, and those destitute of all help and oppressed by others, expect with full right the special aid and care of their pastors. For although Christian love demands this duty also from others, still the pastor is more responsible than all others to express fatherly care for the suffering persons. He may not object that it suffices that they receive assistance from the administrators of the poor chest. He must pay heed to the soul and conscience of the poor so that they do not fall away from the Gospel, withdraw to another place, or envy those who are wealthier because they lack the basics needed to sustain life. Therefore the pastor must, according to the example of St. Paul, frequently urge the congregation to collect funds for the poor, Galatians 2:10. And as Paul directs the Corinthians to the example of the Galatians, so the custom of the one congregation kindles the other, since by nature we are not inclined to do something which is not done elsewhere. Here the loving zeal of many drives away the sluggishness of others.

Pastoral Theology in "At Home in the House of My Fathers," translated by Matthew Harrison