God is love - a Lenten series 24 Love blesses the poor
Luke 6:20 Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God...24 But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
In Luke's account of Jesus' sermon on the plain, Jesus speaks plainly here about economic disparity. It's hard to spiritualize the blessing when the woe to the rich is so stark. It makes no sense to say those who are spiritually rich should live in woe when he is trying to bring spiritual abundance to his audience. Jesus is clearly speaking in the tradition of the Jewish prophets who condemned the oppression of the poor by the rich, and the neglect of the poor by the rich, and the mistaken belief that one's wealth is solely due to God's blessing. In fact, Jesus makes the opposite assertion; God blesses the poor with the spiritual wealth of God's kingdom. Elsewhere Jesus states it is very hard for the wealthy to enter into God's kingdom, which the poor are blessed to already own.
In 258, during the Roman emperor Valerian's persecution of the church, he beheaded the bishop of Rome Sixtus II. He had put Lawrence was in charge of the church's holdings which Valerian demanded. Lawrence distributed all the wealth of the church to the poor in Rome. When his audience was demanded to present the wealth of the church, Valerian presented all the poor and lame he had helped. For that he was also killed, though by slow roasting over a fire.
The letter of James repeats these assertions. 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
James says the poor are rich in faith, because they have nothing else to trust in except a higher power. Perhaps my own faith was forged in my lower income childhood. It can be difficult to have faith, to ask God for something when one already has the means for it. But to pray for something, to wait for so long for it, and for it to arrive under whatever circumstances it took, then faith is built.
Love does not blame the poor for their poverty. Love blesses the poor and seeks to help them and be the answers to their prayers.
In Luke's account of Jesus' sermon on the plain, Jesus speaks plainly here about economic disparity. It's hard to spiritualize the blessing when the woe to the rich is so stark. It makes no sense to say those who are spiritually rich should live in woe when he is trying to bring spiritual abundance to his audience. Jesus is clearly speaking in the tradition of the Jewish prophets who condemned the oppression of the poor by the rich, and the neglect of the poor by the rich, and the mistaken belief that one's wealth is solely due to God's blessing. In fact, Jesus makes the opposite assertion; God blesses the poor with the spiritual wealth of God's kingdom. Elsewhere Jesus states it is very hard for the wealthy to enter into God's kingdom, which the poor are blessed to already own.
In 258, during the Roman emperor Valerian's persecution of the church, he beheaded the bishop of Rome Sixtus II. He had put Lawrence was in charge of the church's holdings which Valerian demanded. Lawrence distributed all the wealth of the church to the poor in Rome. When his audience was demanded to present the wealth of the church, Valerian presented all the poor and lame he had helped. For that he was also killed, though by slow roasting over a fire.
The letter of James repeats these assertions. 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
James says the poor are rich in faith, because they have nothing else to trust in except a higher power. Perhaps my own faith was forged in my lower income childhood. It can be difficult to have faith, to ask God for something when one already has the means for it. But to pray for something, to wait for so long for it, and for it to arrive under whatever circumstances it took, then faith is built.
Love does not blame the poor for their poverty. Love blesses the poor and seeks to help them and be the answers to their prayers.
Comments