“The Sprit of the Lord is upon me
because he has anointed me to preach
good news to the poor.”
Luke 4:18a (NIV)
Who are the poor in our 21st Century world? We live in an economically depressed town-a corporation closed one of it’s larger parts plant in the 1990’s. Then another corporate decision closed it’s other division in, I believe, 2006. These two divisions employed a large percentage of our area’s population.
We hear of people who have no or inadequate health insurance. Would Jesus consider them poor? I remember a friend sharing with me that her mother-at that time, a fairly recent widow-had to use the majority of her Social Security to purchase her medication. This lady had less than $15.00 each month to use for food, utilities, etc. Do we think about this condition as being impoverished?
We hear of people losing their homes because they are out of work. People live in substandard housing because they can’t find anything within their means. Back in the early summer the local newspaper ran a story about a man being injured in a fight at what seemed to be a campsite set up by some homeless people.
God loves the poor, the ones without means and the homeless as much as he loves you and me.
When we look at the "poor" in the United States some of them seem pretty well off when compared to the poor of certain other countries.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, and Jesus told us to take care of them. Most of us in the U.S. are rich by other nations' standards.
ReplyDelete