What is one of your favorite stories, from real life, a movie, or a book, that fits the “American Dream” narrative?

A Brief Look at the Widow’s Story

2 Kings 4:1-7

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” 

How would you describe the woman’s posture and attitude when she approached Elisha regarding her circumstances?

How did Elisha communicate compassion toward her?

What does this story reveal about God’s character and concern for people?

Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. … It is … a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

The claim here is not that the poor are inherently more righteous or sanctified than the rich. There is no place in the Bible that indicates that poverty is a desirable state or that material things are evil. In fact, wealth is viewed as a gift from God. The point is simply that, for His own glory, God has chosen to reveal His kingdom in the place where the world, in all of its pride, would least expect it, among the foolish, the weak, the lowly, and the despised.

Why do you think America has historically prioritized the belief that anyone can attain greater prosperity through hard work and innate talent? 

How has the “American Dream” benefitted our society, and how has it failed us?

How can financial success diminish a person’s openness to understanding humanity’s need for divine help and rescue?

How can our response to our spiritual poverty shape our response to financial poverty?

Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it.

Isaiah 58:10

…and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

Joanna Macy

Compassion literally means to feel with, to suffer with. Everyone is capable of compassion, and yet everyone tends to avoid it because it’s uncomfortable. And the avoidance produces psychic numbing – resistance to experiencing our pain for the world and other beings.

What, exactly, is required of us to cultivate a compassion that “can stand in awe of what the poor have to carry”?

What does Isaiah 58:10 promise to those who sacrifice in order to relieve the suffering of others?

Since compassion requires us to experience the suffering of others, what spiritual practices can help us make space for compassion toward others?

Can you share a story of a time you benefitted from another person’s compassion?