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will the poor always be with us?
There are phrases in the Bible that are scary, aren’t there? I often ignore them, or set them aside until it’s easier to think about them. Lately I’ve been thinking about this one:
The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.
And I’ve been thinking about some folks I know. And a guy who was given $100,000, and six months later was homeless again.
Some of the folks I know are literally transient. They live a camping lifestyle, travelling from town to town, visiting national forests when they can. Others stay in one town for a long time, but really seem to crave freedom. If that’s true, and especially if some folks (note: some) choose to live outside, free of monthly obligations like rent and utilities, does that mean we don’t have to worry about them?
Crossan, by the way, says (at least in the “Blessed are the poor” verses) the word is more accurately translated as “destitute”–not just poor people living paycheck to paycheck, but people who have nothing but the clothes on their back.
If those people will always be with us, maybe the answer isn’t that we don’t have to worry about them, but that we get to include them. Maybe a place where it’s expected that the poor will be with us is a city where it’s not illegal to pitch a tent, or even to create a whole city of tents on unused land. Maybe a place where it’s expected could be friendly to the folks who live outside, happily encouraging those who like to share, instead of outlawing “unauthorized feeds”. Maybe parks for all citizens would spring up, with sleeping benches included as a matter of course.
What do you think?
Posted by Angela under ideas
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
7 Comments
It is really hard to understand what Jesus was getting at unless you know about Deut. 15.
The Christian life is not about making poor people not poor. It is about how we treat those who are.
(This is not to say helping people out of poverty is a bad thing, etc. It just has little to do w/ Jesus.)
Yes, exactly. Acceptance, not judgment, and love, not correction. If anybody’s curious, Deuteronomy 15 says (among other things):
Good stuff.
I’m not sure if we could ever “eradicate” poverty, but we sure as hell can love our neighbors no matter who our neighbors happen to be.
If we could make a space that wasn’t a new type of ghetto (off to the side out of the way, with no maintenance) but a place that was maintained and the people that lived there could take pride in their surroundings maybe more people would be more comfortable with folks who had different priorities such as a “camping lifestyle”
We can hope can’t we?
Greg
I think he may have been making a statement similar to the one he made Martha, when he was visiting with her and Mary. Mary was doing the right thing, sitting and listening to Jesus, being with him and loving on him. Martha didn’t need to be doing the hospitality stuff right then, that could wait. Jesus was really just interested in relationship, and in sharing what he had – love, stories, etc. I think people tend to read into the Bible a lot and pull all kinds of things out of it that were never there to begin with. I don’t think for a minute Jesus was declaring for all time that we should not try to eradicate poverty, cuz it will always be here. I think he was declaring that it was not the time nor place for concerns over the poor in that instance. So, if I am right, there is no reason not to continue forward in the other things he declared about the poor … that we are to live in relationship, generosity and sharing with them. :-)
Yes!
I wasn’t saying we should throw up our hands and say well they’re always going to be there nothing we can do about it.
I am saying there will always be people in need and it is our duty as Christians, people of faith, humans, to reach out of our comfort zone help those that need help.
The “eradicate poverty” thing has more to do with the vision that people that I know that use that line have intimated to me. ie everyone has a two bedroom house and a full time job and showers daily and reminds me of the Truman Show.
When I say “I’m not sure if we could ever “eradicate” poverty, but we sure as hell can love our neighbors no matter who our neighbors happen to be.”
I mean stop trying to fit everyone into a box that means “success” in the US, allow people to be who God made them and support them in their lives, struggles, and triumphs.
I appreciate the push.
Blessings,
Greg
Theresa, when I think about the friends I have who prefer life outside to life in the housing that’s offered, and I think about things I’ve seen done in the name of “eradicating” poverty, I’m not so sure. What would that look like? Would someone be forced to take a job when they’d rather sleep under a bridge? Would they have to live in state-run housing?
I had a friend who responded to a facebook entry I made about ‘make poverty history’ with that quote from Jesus, essentially saying ‘Why do anything for the poor? What you’re doing has no effect because Jesus said they would always be with us. You can’t make poverty history.’
OK. I hear him, but I don’t agree with him. That got me thinking … maybe the poor will always be with us because (1) there will always be those who exploit, grab, ill-treat, and abuse wealth and power, and (2) God’s people will always be here and will always need to be reminded that ‘inasmuch as you do it for the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you do it to me.’