I have just been reading Rene Padilla’ New Testament Perspectives on Simple Lifestyle in his book “Mission Between the Times” and I have a hard time with the idea that God has a “special preference” for the poor. I do think that there is something about the position of poverty that can make it so that a person in poverty reaches out to God for help (as people often reach out to God when they feel at the end of their rope, and poverty makes people get to the end of their rope quickly), but I think that it would be a mistake to view this is special preference.
The idea of special preference is that God plays favorites. I do not see evidence of favoritism in the Gospel. In fact, I see the opposite, as Jesus lavished his love and grace on rich and poor alike. The gospels show Jesus spending time among both the poor and the wealthy, and give account of many positive interactions that Jesus had with wealthy people. Jesus called tax collectors to be his disciples as well as poor fishermen (Matthew, Zachious). Wealthy men from the East brought Jesus expensive gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The wealthy Joseph of Aramathea was given special recognition in Mark’s gospel for courageously going to Pilot to retrieve Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. Women of means traveled with Jesus and helped cover his needs during his ministry. And Jesus even affirmed a woman who poured a costly perfume on Jesus’ feet, even when his disciples harangued her for the “wastefulness” of the gift. I am not saying all of this because I favor the case of the rich over the poor, I just believe that sometimes in the idea of “God’s special preference for the poor,” people forget that Jesus reached out to and interacted with rich people, too.
It is easy to demonize wealth. But money is an inherently moral-neutral object (it is not inherently good or bad). And the truth is, God has given some people material wealth. The deciding question, then, that determines if the wealth is good or bad, is what the person does with it, if they will surrender it to Jesus or not. In the gospel, the rich people that Jesus spent time with laid their whole selves (including their wealth) at Jesus’ feet in offering to him (unlike the rich young ruler). This is the issue that is placed before every person, both rich and poor, upon which entrance into God’s kingdom is based: will you, or will you not, surrender everything to Jesus. BL
The issue is a matter of the biblical call for ‘Justice’ and when that issue is fully examined…the ‘poor’ are almost always the ones needing it.
I’ll steal one from class to respond: In the story of Jairus and the bleeding woman, Jesus lifted up the woman out of shame to stand before thousands of Jewish onlookers while Jairus had to come and throw himself at the feet of Jesus: the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Both had to trust Jesus, humbly approach, and are lifted up from there. The poor are blessed by being lifted from a down-trodden position. The rich have to get over culture, religious, and class-related arrogances in order to approach Jesus humbly.
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you that God cares for people who are poor, (just like a current day parent is grieved, angered and wants justice when the child they love is tormented by bullies). Much of the conversations that I have been a part of, however, have tended on the side of “God is so for the poor that he is against the rich.” My post was in intended as a response to that, hoping to remind people that, while God does care for and love the poor with a tender love, he doesn’t do it in a way that negates or diminishes the love he also has for people who are wealthy.
I think you are right to question whether God has preference for the poor, as I don’t think that God plays favorites. But I think the fact that God doesn’t play favorites also tends to make him inclined towards the poor. Much of the prophetic call to repentance of Israel centered on the issues of idolatry, and failure to care for the poor. Unfortunately being wealthy generally leads to being in position to take advantage of the poor, be it intentionally or not. And because of this, God seems to take pleasure in being on the side of the poor and those who care for the poor.
An interesting addition to this discussion would be to consider James 2. James seems to be worried that not only are the rich being shown favoritism, but it’s the rich who end up exploiting Christians and dragging them to court and ultimately blaspheming the name of Jesus. But James backs this up by saying God doesn’t show favoritism.