God of the Poor

Jupiter, king of the gods, protector of the state, who gave victory and supremacy to the government that honored him. Juno, queen of the gods, goddess of marriage and fertility, who gave endless youth to the women who honored her. Mars, son of Jupiter and Juno, god of war, guardian of the harvest, who granted military victory and crops to those who honored him. These are only a few of the Gods of the Romans, during the time of Christ.

The objective of worshiping these gods was to garner their blessings, which would bring about prosperity for individuals, families, and communities. This was done not by living a certain way but by adhering to and perfectly performing certain religious rituals. These gods were associated most with those who were in positions of power and influence. They were seen as the ones who had most honored the gods and were elevated by them to rule over others on the gods' behalf. How different that is from the message that Jesus brought.

After the spirit descended on him, he heard the father's blessing, and had finished his time of temptation in the wilderness, Jesus publicly announced his ministry and intentions. He did so by quoting the prophet Isaiah,

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

What a remarkable proclamation from the son of God. Especially in contrast to other “sons of the gods” whose great missions involved slaying great monsters, founding the nation of Rome, or having the greatest parties of drunken rivalry anyone had ever seen. This son of God came and declared that his great mission was to minister to the lowest of the low. The ones who would have been seen as unfavored by the gods.

Time and time again throughout the scriptural narrative, we see God choose to tie his name to weak and unexpected characters. He chose the second-born in Isaac and Jacob. He chose the slaves in Egypt. He chose the youngest in David. And still, Jesus chose for himself fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes, and tradesmen to be the head ministers of his kingdom. In many of Jesus and his disciples' teachings, the poor and lowly are specifically named as key recipients of the kingdom of God.

Luke 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

These proclamations, that It is not the strong and powerful, but the poor and lowly who are chosen by God to be the recipients of his divine kingdom, totally break the cultural understanding of the time. Poverty, sickness, suffering, and a low social class were for those who had sinned, were not performing the religious rituals properly, or were simply unfavored by God. Yet time and time again Jesus subverted the cultural understanding and proclaimed the opposite. When his Disciples asked him whose sin caused the blindness of a man born blind Jesus answered and said that it was no one's sin (John 9). Again, when those who were considered to be the most righteous in society came and accused Jesus of spending all his time with the unrighteous, he told them that he had not come for the righteous, but for the redemption and restoration of sinners (Luke 5).

What other God in history has so associated himself with the poor and lowly? From his birth in a stable with a feeding trough for a bed (Luke 2), to his proclamation that if you have cared for a person who lacks food you have cared for him (Matthew 25). No other God who is held out as being so great has ever associated themselves so strongly with those who are so lowly. Our temptation still is to avoid those who our culture sees as being the lowly, the failures, the taboo. We do so to avoid becoming associated with them and losing our social standing or reputation. Yet if we claim Christ then we are called to be like Christ. Christ surrounded himself with the cultural outcasts, with the failure, with the taboo. He spent time with Tax collectors, prostitutes, former terrorists, the sick, the homeless, the beggars on the side of the road, the Samaritans. If we claim Christ and yet refuse to make time in our lives to even meet our neighbors, get to know the lowly, or even look at the homeless then our claim is empty.

Matthew 25:42–45 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ (ESV)