Follow The Rabbiናሙና

Are you rich, or poor?

Have you ever noticed that in the stories written about his life, Jesus gives sight to the blind, makes the lame to walk, heals the sick, makes the deaf hear … but proclaims good news to the poor? That never made sense to me. If everyone else gets restored, shouldn’t the poor be made rich—or at least middle-class?

See, to us in the western world, being poor typically means having very little money or material possessions … but to the Jews of the Bible, being poor meant living in chaos and disorder. It wasn't about money, it was about your life being a mess. In his book Walking With The Poor, author Bryant Myers writes; “Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings.” If you’re struggling today, if you're depressed, worried or anxious, then you would have been considered poor in the Bible—regardless of how much money you have—because your life is in disorder.

This is a lesson I learned from this little boy named Joel. I met Joel in a slum outside Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. When I met Joel and his family, I assumed they were poor … but as I spent an afternoon with them, played with his friends, cooked with his mum, Joyce, and ate with them, I saw that despite his circumstances, Joel was not biblically “poor”. His life was simple, yes—but he was happy and loved.

Today, many of you are waking up rich by the world’s standards, but biblically poor because of chaos and disorder in your world. If that’s you today, I pray that Jesus will bring peace and order into your world—which for you will totally be good news!

For reflection:

"Good News is being preached to the poor." — Matthew 11:5