September 28, 2005
Poor
It’s been a while since I’ve run across the old notion that the poor are poor because they choose to be. But I recently got an e-mail that somebody had enough rancor to send and not to sign making that very claim.
The contention is that the poor are poor because they’re lazy and don’t take advantage of all the “opportunities” offered by our society, that they just expect to live on the dole from Uncle Sugar. It’s usually the affluent who make these pronouncements all the while they’re enjoying the same dole at another level and at the expense of the poor in the form of major tax cuts and dodges and welfare for their corporations.
I never quite understood why Jesus said we always have the poor with us until I remembered that he was not only one of them, but also one with them. Maybe the poor, willing or not, are called by God to remind us that her beloved son in whom she is well pleased is also always with us.
That same son did suggest, as well, that whatever we do unto the least of these, we also do unto him. And that however we judge them and presume their motives, so, indeed, do we judge him and all the while call ourselves Christians.
[Visit Episcopal Relief and Development at http://www.er-d.org/ to make a donation to Katrina or Rita Relief or Episcopal Migration Ministries at emm@episcopalchurch.org to volunteer to assist displaced people with housing.]