The Poor Will Always Be With Us

Two days before the Passover Jesus told his disciples that He was about to be condemned by the Jewish High Council, the Sanhedrin. This would lead in turn to his crucifixion. I wonder how he sounded as he spoke. Was he calm, nervous, excited, grave, sober—what?

Anyway, while he was at the house of Simon the leper in Bethany, a little village near Jerusalem, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment. Based on John 12, the woman was likely Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus. I posted a blog about this incident a year ago. Based on certain calculations, this jar of perfume was worth at least $18,000. No wonder that the disciples, especially Judas, said this was a waste of good money. The ointment could well have been sold, put into the disciples' treasury (which Judas controlled) and used to help the poor. To this Jesus replied,

"Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her." - Mat 26:10-13 ESV

Alabaster Jar

From Pastor Mike Freeman's - wordhavering blog

My question for this year's Holy Week is this. Why does Jesus—and Moses (Deut. 15:11)—teach us that we will always have the poor with us? Will we never discover a social program by which to eliminate poverty? Certainly many political and social systems have promised to do so. But Jesus says it won't happen. Why not?

It has to do with the human heart, not with the created world in which we live. Consider the disciples and their supposed concern about the poor. Take Judas, the treasurer, for example. Shortly after his hypocritical remarks about having money for the poor he turned around and betrayed Jesus for a paltry 30 pieces of silver, roughly $330 in today's terms. So much for his concern for the poor.

Already from the Torah both Jesus and the disciples had heard about caring for the poor. Moses told them,

"If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. . . For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'Deut 15:7-8, 11 ESV

Poverty in the promised land was not a result of poor land or poor crops. This was a land of milk and honey. It provided for the people in abundance (Exodus 13:5; Deut. 26:15; Jer. 32:22). However, again and again they used the land for their own greed and pride.

The same remains so in our modern world. Potentially our planet is capable of providing food for everyone, regardless of the billions living on it. Beyond that, we who bear God's image, have the gifts and intelligence to make the earth productive. Human pride, selfishness, greed and carelessness both waste and destroy this abundance.

How shall we Christians respond? Shall we simply shrug our shoulders because we know that we'll always have poor people? The Spirit of the Risen Christ whose victory we celebrate this coming Sunday moves us in a quite different direction. By our care for the poor, the hungry, the sick, the wounded, imprisoned and broken we worship Jesus who came to make all things new (Matthew 25:34-46). In Christ we anticipate a coming world in which poverty will be completely eliminated.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. - Rom 8:19-23 ESV

The Poor Are Always With Us

TIME magazine recently published an article saying that homelessness has spread to the middle class here in America. A Google search reveals similar postings and books. Samples:

• Homelessness Could Spread To Middle Class, Crisis Study Warns
• America’s homeless middle class — RT
• Homeless Middle Class - YouTube
• Homeless Middle Class Rising | Common Dreams
• Amazon.com: Without a Net: Middle Class and Homeless (with Kids ...
• Middle Class and Newly Homeless . NOW on PBS

Problem here with definitions. What is middle class and what is poverty? As you might expect, there are disagreements. Liz Pulliam Weston on MSNBC cautions us even to talk about money. She says, "Write about poverty, affluence, whether the middle class is disappearing and if so, whose fault it is . . . and people go berserk." On the same MSNBC John W. Schoen writes "When politicians, economists, academics and journalists try to assess the current economic status of the "American middle class," the debate often begins with a question that some concede is all but impossible to answer: Who, exactly, is middle class in America today?"


I shall have to assume, as do most, that data aside, being middle class in America today appears to be mostly a state of mind. Poverty itself is another issue. I welcome your comments on both. 


My primary concern is how to approach the teaching of our Lord Jesus and apply it to our own lives. In the week before His crucifixion he was dining at the home of a certain Simon the leper. His leprosy had evidently been cured, most likely by Jesus (Mark 14:1-9). The practice among the afluent was to recline on couches around the table, with your upper body raised next to the table. A certain woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard. It was very costly. In our terms that amount of ointment would be worth thousands of dollars. The Apostle John says this woman was Mary and that when she poured out the perfume the house was filled with its fragrance (John 12:1-3). 


Judas, treasurer for the 12 apostles, scolded Mary for such waste. He claimed that the ointment could have been sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor. The working man in those days made about one denarius a day. So what does a working man make in our day? That depends, of course, on his skill and experience. Lets round it out to $10/hour and multiply that by a ten hour day so that you have a denarius worth about $100. 100 x 300 = $30,000, a rather amazing sum of money. Judas had no intention of giving the money to the poor, of course. He had his eye on keeping the money for himself. He later sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver. These were likely silver Shekels (denarii) of Tyre, the only currency accepted at the Jerusalem Temple. Using my estimate, Judas received about $3,000, more or less.


What I'm getting at in all of this is Jesus' comment about the poor. He said, "Leave her alone, she intended to keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me" (John 12:7-8).  


In the OT we hear from Moses, "For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land' (Deuteronomy 15:11). 


I wish it were otherwise, but it is not. Poverty is endemic to life in our nation and, for that matter, throughout the world. The reasons are multiple. Moses gave some practical counsel about how to deal with that problem. We who follow Jesus will do well to listen to that and to other guidance in the Bible as we seek to help those who are in need. Ultimately, however, we are aware that this is a sinful, fallen world. It is a world full of people who steal, lie, cheat, deceive and take from rich and poor alike. It is also a world of lazy, indolent, shiftless people who will not assume responsibility for themselves and others. It is a world in which people get caught up in drugs and alcohol, gambling and foolish waste. And it is a world of people without the knowledge and education to earn a living. Whatever the causes, we know that we will always have the poor with us.