the poor we will always have with us

I don't usually get that nervous when I preach anymore. I have learned to so completely lean into God that I don't consider it to be much about me. But, while we were in Denver I was asked to lead a one-hour bible study five minutes before it started. I didn't have anything. I didn't have words. But, I did have 40 hungry homeless that were in need of bread and something else that only God could provide. So I prayed as I was being introduced and then began to press into God. After we were fed by the word, we dined together at the table of conversation. And, over a bean soup I conversed with three others about something so profound I don't even remember what it was. They had words. I did not. As we said our good-byes and they hugged me like they really meant it, the women in the group said, "don't forget us." I have to confess, I shrugged it off. Who amongst us that have been on some kind of service trip haven't heard this phrase before? And we always give the same response..."I won't." But we do.

Don't forget us. I knew what she meant. Come back. Give more. I got the message.

But then something happened. I was reading in the gospel of Mark this afternoon and in chapter 14 there is this story of Jesus getting together with his friends for a meal a few days before passover and a woman breaks up the party. She strolls in with some perfume that cost way too much money (I see nothing changes), and she breaks it open and pours it over Jesus' head. she then gets scolded by the disciples who tell her and Jesus that it would have been better if the perfume would have been sold and the money given to the poor. But then Jesus says something I have always misunderstood. "The poor you will always have with you." Jesus loves what this woman did. And he reminds his disciples that the poor with always be with them. Now when I have read this in the past I have always assumed that Jesus meant that there would always be poor people. This is just the product of the broken system. The world is in need of restoration and until that happens we will have the poor. But, I think there is something more happening here. Jesus is with his closest friends. People who are to follow him. To do as he does. Jesus isn't saying well they will always be around. Jesus is talking about the expectation of proximity. It is as though he were saying to them, "The poor will always be with you, right? You aren't going to leave them are you?" Jesus is expecting the poor to always be amongst the Church. The followers of Jesus are charged with taking care of the poor. Those who love the LORD are to make sure that the poor are taken care of. That's our job. That's who we are called to be. The poor will always be with us. Or at least they should be.

So when this woman hugged me and said don't forget us and I said I won't. I think something else was going on. I believe I was being reminded of something. The poor we will always have with us. Or at least they should be.

I think James says it best: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Don't forget us...I won't

Grace and Peace