Reclaiming the Gospel, Part 2A - Good News for the Poor

So, in case you have not heard, poor people deal with poverty on a daily basis. It’s rarely too far from their conscious thinking, especially while being bombarded with messages reminding them of all the things they cannot have or do because of their poverty. When Jesus went about ministering and teaching his disciples, he began with a declaration that his mission was focused on preaching good news to the poor. This is in the context of lifting up the brokenhearted, restoring sight to the blind, and setting captives free. None of these other points in Jesus’ declaration is about some blessing to come on the other side of death. They are all about God’s blessings right now, and that is his good news.

I don’t know about you, but rarely have I heard the gospel preached in this way. When we talk about poor people, it is as though now the gospel really only impacts them on the other side of life in the eternity which awaits us somewhere beyond the blue. That is not how Jesus phrased it. That is not how Jesus evidenced his meaning. It is not what we see in the course of his ministry.

In fact, most of his healing ministry can be looked at from the lens of releasing the poor from those things which kept them from participating fully in the economic life of Israel. When Jesus speaks to and of the wealthy, his words are no message of comfort to them. Rather, he calls them down in no uncertain terms regarding their responsibilities to evidence love for their neighbors by meeting their physical and material needs with immediacy. He speaks of a foolish man with a bumper crop, denoting that he should have understood that a bumper crop is a blessing from God to be used for the common good, not his own. He tells a story of Lazarus and the unnamed rich man not to say that the poor will be blessed in the life after, but that the rich man should have been meeting the needs of this man who was ignored at his very doorstep.

The world economy of which we are part does not look at the poor with a view toward good news for them. On the contrary, we blame them for their poverty. We shame them for not rising to a level superior to what they have experienced. We ignore that, like the rich men in Jesus’ parables, we have not done our part, not fulfilled our responsibilities to share God’s blessings with all. We ignore that our social structures, legal structures, and commercial structures are designed to benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor. Unfortunately, within the church and the circles which talk about this gospel of Jesus we likewise have adopted the larger society’s perspective on poverty rather than looking at the issue as Jesus called us to do.

We worry with being too generous toward someone in need. I don’t see that concern in Jesus. We worry with creating dependency, almost as though there is little to no way a poor person can actually escape poverty simply by those tropes of working harder, studying, getting a second job, getting a better job, and getting themselves out of debt. We ignore that it is more expensive to live in poverty than it is to live otherwise. The wealthy can get whatever loans they want, while the poor can’t get more than the services of a loan shark, even if a commercially respectable one. We charge them banking fees we do not charge wealthy customers. We charge them extra for not having enough funds to keep their utilities on. We tell them it is their fault that they need childcare to work, as they should find a job which provides childcare, which gives them paid sick days, maternity leave, and other benefits we reserve for those who don’t need them nearly as desperately.

The gospel is supposed to be good news to the poor. That’s not what we have too often peddled. Rather than the good news of Jesus, we have too often become proponents of our society’s structures built on the greed of the wealthiest on the back of the poor. Jesus’ good news was not about awaiting for eternity to come around. In God’s Reign, there would be no poor. In God’s Reign, all are equally worthy of all good things and sharing in an abundant life built on the abundance of God’s provision.

“Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?” (James 2:5b-6a) James understood the blessings of the gospel and its application as having begun here and now. If the poor await eternity to experience the good news of Jesus, we are just adding to the injustice they are experiencing. That’s rather much the opposite of what Jesus taught us.


#Poor #Poverty #Gospel #GoodNews #GodsReign #GodsKingdom #KingdomOfGod #ReignOfGod #Economics

— ©Copyright 2023, Christopher B. Harbin 



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