We firstly need to embrace a deep love for the poor: Not a superficial love! Not a love that is mere words! A love of action, of movement and of continuance! We need to demonstrate a love that echoes and follows the example of Jesus.
Biblical history, and especially the gospel accounts, shows God is on the side of the poor! The underdog! The oppressed! Jesus spoke, lived and displayed immense compassion for the downtrodden, those suffering, the possessed, for sinners and the sick! In fact, his kingdom elevates them above the rich and the righteous! His kingdom reverses social trends, it opposes the kingdom of this world and embraces people, families and nations that “have not”! Again, I need to remind us of the words of Isaiah, which Jesus related to being the essence of His kingdom:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The kingdom of heaven will be occupied by the poor, people filled with sorrow, the meek and the persecuted; by the alienated, the possessed and the sick; by tax gatherers, prostitutes and sinners!
Meditate on these revolutionary comments: “the first shall be last, and the last shall be first”; “blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”; “unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”; “as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me!”; “I tell you the truth, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people”; “many who have the highest place now will have the lowest place in the future. And many who have the lowest place now will have the highest place in the future!”
The question instilled throughout history remains to this day: Who are regarded as poor?
Let’s face it, tax gatherers were financially richer than most Pharisees, they exploited people and took more than they should, yet, they were categorized as poor. Another scenario and it is a remarkable story; because a poor captured Jewish servant girl made a suggestion, the powerful and mighty Aramaic army captain Naaman went to see the prophet Elisha, but, he had to become “poor in spirit” to be healed from his leprosy. Naaman had to submit to Elisha’s wishes and was inflamed that Elisha sent a mere messenger to meet him – he thought he deserved better treatment. Ironically it was through listening to his servants and obeying the prophet’s instructions that Naaman’s “flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean!” Read the story in 2 Kings 5 and we’ll find that God used poor people and unusual circumstances to make this powerful man and enemy of Israel realize he was just another poor creature!
The poor, therefore, does not just refer to those living without money, and ironically enough, sometimes a poor person can display terrible pharisaical arrogance; thinking they are superior, they strut their stuff and snob those experiencing similar poverty. Unfortunately I have seen this at Cornerstone with words like “I am not like these people!” “I don’t drink or do drugs like them!” “I’m not lazy like those people; I’m all about finding a job!” Sadly time and experience reveals their true colors, their false pretenses and what is done in the darkness is revealed in the light. It is hard for a financially poor person to keep their mask on, and usually, they are quickly humbled by their circumstances!
Biblical evidence regards the poor as individuals, families and nations who are normally financially poverty stricken; are social outcasts, like tax collectors, prostitutes and lepers; have physical, mental or spiritual disabilities; sinners knowing they need forgiveness; and people who humbly realize that God is God and we are dust and in prayer will cry out to the Lord like the publican, “have mercy on me, a sinner!”
We need to ask ourselves questions:
Who are the poor in Chicago?
Who are the poor in Auckland?
Who are the poor in the world today?
Look around and observe. Ask the Lord to reveal this to you!
We can quickly ascertain some obvious conclusions: Third world countries, nations torn apart from war, homeless people, nursing home residents, beggars, incarcerated men and women, street kids and prostitutes are poor. But, what about our gang bangers, our depressed and unstable youth of middle class parents, drug dealers and addicts, alcoholic parents, single parent families, a confused teenage mother going to an abortion clinic, a bored grandmother addicted to gambling, a man who seems to have it all but has isolated himself due to his narcissistic personality disorder, or how about your next door neighbor?
I could give so many more examples, but I feel the Lord calls us to assess each person at each moment and seize the day. “The poor will always be with us!” While some answers are obvious, many are not, and it is our responsibility to be sensitive to the Spirit and wrap our loving arms around the poor!
Embracing a deep love for the poor means following the example Jesus set. His incarnation exalted the poor and humbled the proud. It means engaging in a life of opposition, of persecution and of ridicule! It means embracing who Jesus embraced. It means viewing the poor as Jesus viewed the poor, and on the other side, it means viewing the rich as Jesus viewed the rich. This is what loving the poor truly means!
Jesus said the rich had already received their reward, this should cause us with assets to analyze ourselves, maybe even shudder. We, as kingdom dwellers, should be careful not to exalt the rich and famous. We should be careful not to create our own idol worship through the media, politics, sports, TV, movies, music and the like. Jesus did not exalt Herod, Caesar or the heroes of His day; in fact, He even seemed to ignore them. He did comment favorably about the centurion because he displayed remarkable faith and humility, yet the rich young ruler went away sad because he was unwilling to depart from his stuff. The Pharisees pursued Jesus and with verbal eloquence He hushed these hypocrites! The harsh words of Matthew 23 are a brutal verbal assault of first century scribes, Pharisees and religious hypocrites! Yet, we must remember, these confrontations were an act of love, for Jesus knew that the rich must become poor to enter the gates of Life!
Jesus embraced a deep love for the poor by seeing them as lost sheep, as sheep without a shepherd.
Look in people’s eyes and what do you see? Do you see the vacant stares? An alienated people searching for freedom! Today, people are unsure of their future, their purpose and destinations, I see a people drifting through life searching for an ounce of meaning; they are lost sheep!
Jesus also loved to love suffering people! He put His reputation in danger; it took Him to the cross, by mercifully healing masses on the Sabbath. He embraced setting these captives free over any ritualistic uncompassionate obedience. As more blind eyes were being opened and lame people began to walk, hatred for Jesus rose, but His compassion did not die. He embraced the suffering and did not let go.
Jesus also embraced those controlled by demonic powers; he set them free and released them from terrible bondage! Sadly today, western culture has created an addictive personality: People are addicted to drugs, alcohol, pornography, movies, sports, gambling, food, the internet, dieting, video games, church, shopping and a host of other things. Because of the Cross, the Spirit is powerful enough to free us from all bondage. We must understand that Jesus wants to set us free, and it makes Him weep to see millions of people today controlled by demonic forces or some controlling addiction.
This is a prayerful decision; a decision we all need to embrace. It is a decision that is determined to deeply love the poor; the millions of lost sheep, the millions of suffering people and the addicted millions. But, in turn, we must decide to also pressure the rich to realize they also need to be poor in spirit to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God! The numbers are staggering, but, we are responsible for the individual standing in our presence, in the moment and the unfolding crisis before us. We need to decide to seize the day by deeply loving the poor!
