Again and again, the instruction to remember people most vulnerable to hunger and poverty is tied to the exodus. Just as the exodus was pivotal for the Old Testament, so the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus became pivotal in the New Testament. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. These passages barely hint at the biblical evidence, which is vast and deep. One practical meaning of rooting our understanding of hunger in God's rescuing love is that we live by grace, not by guilt.
Hunger leaves many people feeling guilty.
However, guilt is a poor motivator. It immobilizes us because it underscores our captivity to sin. Still, what makes many Christians uneasy is not our obligation to poor people, which they may readily affirm, but the invitation to express this obligation in the political arena. Let me suggest a fundamental distinction between the separation of church and state and the separation of religion from life . We tend to confuse the two.