His strength in our weakness

Mary, the mother of Jesus, echoes a theme of the Old Testament: how God chooses the weak to humble the proud.

Mary’s poem beautifully reflects this, born out of her exaltation for bearing the world's savior: “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:53).

Jesus’ teachings reflect this, too, most obviously in the Beatitudes. In each way, he unexpectedly flips blessings on their head. “Blessed are the poor in spirit. . . . Blessed are those who mourn. . . . Blessed are the meek.” (Matthew 5:2–4).

In the same way, Jesus blesses the poor.

Jesus probably told parts of the famous Sermon on the Mount over and over at different times with different variations. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus removes “in spirit” and simply says, “Blessed are you who are poor.” (Many who are poor are also poor in spirit.) And about them, Jesus says, “For yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).

This references how, in Jesus’ upside-down kingdom, weakness and need lead to exaltation and salvation. Jesus says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

The heart of those content in life to satisfy themselves with wealth and security can have a more difficult time seeing their need in relation to God. This is why Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” in our passage today. It’s why Jesus concludes the teaching by saying, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:24, 30).

God uses the weak and poor to humble the “wise” and rich. If we are poor, we can praise God for his sustaining joy in difficult times. If we face some stress, we can learn to depend on him more and abstain from our desires. If we are wealthy, we can rejoice in being exorbitantly generous and praise God for his generosity to us. Paul writes that God works everything for our good (Romans 8:28).

Do you believe that?

Do you experience financial stress even when you’re fairly well-off or even wealthy?

Take extra caution to guard your heart against the love of money, and pray for contentedness. Ask yourself why you feel stressed while financially stable.

Are you chasing a lifestyle? If so, why?

If you’re stressed while struggling with funds, take this opportunity to depend on the Lord daily. When we rely on him every day or week, we tangibly recognize our desperate needs. This can lead to a strong feeling of dependence on Jesus in a spiritual way.

Being brought low in earthly terms reminds us of God’s exaltation in heavenly terms (James 2:5). As we already mentioned, Jesus doesn’t care about the amount you give but the heart behind it.