Loving the PoorUzorak

The Poor 

Jesus said, “On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame or blind.” What did He mean by that? In our society, people with disabilities can actually do great things, because they’re amazing people. But in that agrarian society, if you were blind or if you could not walk right, you were not able to work in the fields. The disabled were often relegated to begging. 

Jesus was asking his listeners to go and invite the people who could not reciprocate. We can also do that in this time and age. One-sided love is an exercise in humility. 

We want to minister to the poor, as well as those who are in need financially. There are three different groupings that I can share with you. Number one are those who have generational poverty. Generational poverty is defined as poverty over two generations. These are people who, in their poverty, do not even know how to live any other way. 

The second group is situational poverty. Situational poverty is when something happens. It may be an illness, job loss, or a divorce. Sometimes it is bad choices, such as alcohol or drug abuse. No question about it, you can end up in poverty through really bad choices. But some people are in situational poverty that was not due to a bad choice—something just occurred. A catastrophic event happened, and they could not escape. They were living on the edge of poverty, and the event sent them over the edge. We should not come along and tell them, “Well, you need to get back on your feet.” Instead, we should say, “How can I help?” 

The third group is the working poor. Did you know that there are people who are employed and still struggling? They are working two to three jobs. For example, when you’re at a restaurant and ask the waitress, “How can I pray for you?” And she says, “You know, I have four kids at home and this is my second job.” Ding! Ding! Ding! Whenever you hear of people going through those sorts of struggles, that is probably the working poor. 

All through the Old and New Testament, you will find God commands us to reach out to the poor.