The notion it is OK for some people to live in luxurious wealth while others struggle in poverty is not acceptable from a biblical or a Christian perspective.

The Bible tells us we are responsible for the welfare of our vulnerable neighbors. The Bible expects our government and our social structures to care for the poor and vulnerable. God judges and condemns governments that fail in their responsibilities toward “the least of these.”

The biblical story starts with God’s action to free the Hebrew people from the elitist economic system of Pharaoh. In the wilderness, God taught the people how to create a community of justice. God provided the basics — food, water, shelter, and just structures — with the expectation that when the people were given their own nation in a promised land, they would establish these same norms.

When Israel entered the promised land, they divided property among their tribes with an eye toward equality and sustenance. All were given enough to live on. The nation was charged with special responsibility toward the vulnerable (“widows and orphans”) and toward immigrants (“the alien among you”).

They brought with them a God-given system for periodic redistribution of property to prevent the concentration of wealth in a few hands and to redress the inequality and injustice that inevitably occurs in a free market system — the Jubilee Year. Every 50 years, all land would revert to its original equal distribution, all debts would be cancelled, slaves and indentured workers liberated.

When Jesus began his public ministry, he announced “The year of the Lord’s favor” — good news to the poor, release to the captive, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. Many commentators believe Jesus was declaring a Jubilee Year.

Jesus preached, “Blessed are you who are poor” and “Woe to you who are rich.” (Luke 6) The Lord’s Prayer includes petitions for the forgiveness of debts as well as for daily bread.

Jesus declared his expectations for governments in his famous parable of the nations (Matthew 25). The blessed nations are those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and are humane and compassionate to prisoners. The cursed nations are those who fail in these basic civic responsibilities.

Jesus illustrated the intertwined relationships between rich and poor in his story of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man cannot just ignore poor Lazarus. God condemns wealthy indulgence that fails to remedy the presence of poverty.

Today in the United States, the richest 1 percent own 40 percent of the nation’s wealth, claim 24 percent of the annual income, and own 50 percent of all stocks, bonds and mutual funds. The top 1 percent pays an average tax rate of 28.9 percent. My wife and I both work for nonprofit groups. Last year we reached a 25 percent tax rate. We’re in a higher bracket than billionaire Warren Buffett (17 percent) or Mitt Romney (14 percent). Our federal tax system is unjust.

Low-income Arkansans pay 12 percent of their income in state taxes, twice the rate of the wealthy 1-percenters. Our state tax system is unjust.

The Great Recession has hit the poor hard. In Northwest Arkansas, child poverty rates rose from 20 to 28 percent in three years. Under age 5, 32 percent of kids live in poverty. The majority of poor people are children.

Right now Congress is renewing the Farm Bill, which includes funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the former food stamps program now known as SNAP. In a time of high unemployment, growing poverty and hunger, our Senate is proposing to cut SNAP $4.6 billion and the House version proposes egregious cuts of $16 billion.

SNAP is an efficient and modest way our nation helps combat hunger. It is modest — average benefits are about $3 a day. Try to eat on $3 a day. You can’t. But it makes a big difference to the poor.

You have to be pretty poor to qualify for SNAP — for a family of four, income must be under $28,000 a year. The average SNAP family earns $8,772 annually. SNAP fraud and error rates are extraordinarily low.

From Moses to Jesus, the Bible tells us we are responsible for the poor and vulnerable. The wealthy have a particular responsibility.

For the wealthy, life is good and taxes are low; for the poor, unemployment is high, poverty and hunger are increasing.

SNAP is a modest but meaningful way to act on our responsibility to love one another. Some lawmakers propose to cut safety-net programs like SNAP. I wonder. What would Jesus say?

LOWELL GRISHAM IS AN EPISCOPAL PRIEST WHO LIVES IN FAYETTEVILLE.