The Poor Will Always Be With You

I have been thinking about poverty the last couple of days. Jesus said the poor will always be with you. I remember reading somewhere that poverty, physical poverty (I know there is a spiritual poverty as well, but this isn't what I am talking about) is really alienation from a society on the basis of wealth. The term poor is a relative term. So in a society like in the US our poor may have hot water, electricity, TV ect. But they are still poor because they are alienated (haves vs. have nots). But there has to be a difference between poor and struggle for survival. There are areas in the world where poverty has placed people in a daily fight for survival.

I have heard this statement, that the poor will always be with us, said many times as a reason why Christian churches don't need to focus on the poor in society. They need to focus on worshipping Jesus because the point of the passage is that the poor will always be with you. So when it comes to poverty that breeds inhumane conditions, the church still doesn't engage. Why? Because the poor will always be with you so they see this as a losing battle. No matter how much they engage it won't change the situation.

But I wonder if perhaps the situation can change. Perhaps the whole level of the world's living can be raised so that those who are considered poor, or alienated from the general society because of their wealth, will still have everything they need to live. I think of it in terms of illness and doctors. What if the doctors were to say you know the sick have always been with us and always will be. Everytime we come up with a cure a new disease comes along. Instead lets just focus on studying medicine and never applying it. The world would be a much worse place. The truth is that because of the doctors intentional efforts to solve medical issues the expected living age and quality of life has risen.

Wonder what would happen if the whole church engaged itself with the poor?