The Poor You Will Always Have With You?

Confronting Our Tendency to Shrug at Our Suffering Neighbors

There are some expressions that are always said with a shrug.

“You win some, you lose some.”

“No big deal.”

“It is what it is.”

There’s something Jesus says in the gospels that we almost always say in that same ambivalent tone:

“the poor you will always have with you.”

But if we think Jesus’ words invite us to shrug at the suffering of our neighbors, we couldn’t be more wrong.

When my friend and mentor Pastor Rufus Smith invited me to preach at Hope Church Memphis, I was honored, but also intrigued. Hope’s summer sermon series is humorously titled “It Don’t Mean That.” Each week, they explore a biblical text that has often been deeply misunderstood.

Given how often Jesus’ line “the poor you will always have with you” has been used as an excuse for our apathy towards our neighbors, I thought I’d explore what Jesus’ words really meant, especially in light of the fact that our Lord was quoting from Deuteronomy, a text deeply committed to justice for the orphan, widow, refugee, landless, and indebted.

You can watch or listen to the sermon below. If you do, I’d love to know what you think.