Challenging conversations Permanently poor
T
he poor constitute a hot political topic lately. Not that any recent U.S. president has moved the fight against poverty high on his public agenda. It’s just that legis-
lators and their constituents have no shortage of opinions about people on the lowest rung of the socioeconomic lad- der. It may seem strange that such a large and relatively pow- erless segment of the population would be so talked about by others. But talking about others has always come easy to us. Such talk becomes even easier when there is a perception among some that “those others” are gobbling up resources from the rest of us. In many respects, Lyndon B. Johnson’s “war on poverty”
has become a war on the poor. Large numbers of Ameri- cans want to punish the poor for their poverty. Just listen to the condescending speech on talk radio, in certain halls of Congress or on your average street corner. Many Ameri- cans regard food stamp recipients with contempt. Blog- gers express outright hostility toward any poor person who doesn’t hold a job. A sense of scorn seems widespread. If we harden our hearts enough, reactions of revulsion to
the poor are understandable. After all, there is no cash value in the poor. As pastor, scholar and author Eugene H. Peter- son said to an audience once, “The poor is that person who is of no use to me, and who only requires some- thing of me.” For those of us who live with
By Peter W. Marty Twentieth and last in a series
Those in poverty need to be loved, not thought of as a problem to be solved
insecurity” every day—many of us distance ourselves from poverty. For us, scorn for the poor isn’t the issue. We just pay less attention to them, excising from our busy minds that which seems to be a hopelessly intrac- table problem. “There’s not much we can
do,” you may have heard some- one say. “Besides, Jesus said we would always have the poor with us.” That statement of Jesus (Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7, John 12:8) has opened the door to apathy in many circles. If poverty can’t be “cured,” the reasoning goes, why waste our time and precious resources addressing it? This unfortunate read of Scripture is also gravely in error.
some degree of abundance—abun- dant time, education, support and resources of every variety—we get to live strategically and reflectively. If life is out of balance, we take a step back, we go on vacation, we spend time with our kids at the waterpark. This is how we reassess and recalibrate. The poor can’t take a vacation from being poor. If you
In many respects, Lyndon B. Johnson’s ‘war on poverty’ has become a war on the poor. Large numbers of Americans want to punish the poor for their poverty.
Jesus wasn’t commenting randomly. He was quoting from the Law of Moses. Numerous times in his ministry, Jesus employed a device common to rabbis of the day, later known as remez. The speaker quoted a small piece of text, with the intent of calling to mind the larger passage from which it came. When Jesus names the permanent
nature of poverty, he is drawing from Deuteronomy. Here’s the reference (note the obligations that go with rec- ognizing the presence of the poor): “If there is among you anyone in need, a
are struggling with all kinds of immediate scarcity and don’t know where your kids’ next meal is coming from, you lack the luxury of carefully contemplating the future. The urgen- cies staring you in the face keep consuming your focus. Struggles with trade-offs become extremely tiresome. “Do I buy soap or bread today?” Wise decision-making naturally suffers when you find yourself constantly being one step away from calamity. In the face of daunting statistics concerning the poor—an estimated 17.5 million American households live with “food
member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard- hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. … Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so .… Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land’ ” (Deuteronomy 15:7-11). If we can stop thinking of the
poor as a problem to be solved, and more as people to be loved, the gap of empathy afflicting America might close just a bit.
Author bio: Marty is a speaker, author and ELCA pastor who writes monthly for The Lutheran.
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