Resignation or Condemnation?

Matthew 26:11 – “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.”

“The poor you will always have with you” gets trotted out when people try to advocate for all kinds of reforms. As if it’s a get out of jail free card. It is not. It is a condemnation of Israel’s inability to care enough to keep people from being poor in the first place. Surprised? I was too. See, if you open a bible to Matthew 26:11, you will most likely see a note referencing Deuteronomy 15:11.

What does Deuteronomy 15:11 say? I’m glad you asked. “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.’” Jesus’s quotation of Deuteronomy seems to justify the disciples’ comments about how the ointment could be used to help the poor. However, that’s only half the story. If we look at the context leading up to verse 11, we find in verses 4-5, “There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.” (emphasis mine) Let this sink in: six verses after God says there need not be any poor people if we do what she asks, she says there will always be poor people among us.

What Jesus and God in Deuteronomy are saying is that poverty does not have to exist. It is created by humans and maintained by humans. When we obey God’s commandments to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with her, there will be no poor people. If we obey Jesus’s commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves, there will be no poor people. Poor people will always be with us, because we don’t love justice, mercy, humility, or our neighbor. At least, not as a country.

The disciples would have instantly recognized the quote as coming from Deuteronomy. They recognized that Jesus was telling them that their ideas do not serve love, justice, or mercy for the poor. He calls them out for using the poor as props to make themselves look good in comparison to the woman. Jesus reminds them that God has said there is no need to have poor people if only the Israelites would follow the commandments,  and the disciples do not pursue the point.

I want to note here that God is aware that we will not be able to follow the commandments. Deuteronomy 15:11 is God's admission that, yes, there will always be poor people among us. Yet, along with the condemnation, there is an acceptance of our frailty. This does not mean we as Christians are not bound to follow the ways of Christ or God. It means God has no illusions.

For another take, here’s Fred Clark on Slacktivist. It’s from 2017 but still relevant, because we haven’t changed since then.

No, as a country we are not any more successful than Israel at doing justice and loving mercy. The poor are kept poor because of the combination of policy violence, myths about poverty and race, and the devaluing of workers among other causes. Police violence is the physical manifestation of these attitudes on the part of rich, white people. It has gone on too long.

I think here it’s important to note that it is not only government policies that keep people poor. It is the racism and classism inherent in the system, perpetuated by rich, white people.

It’s white people’s refusal to fund education for Black youth by moving “to a better school district.” (See Surrogate Suburbs, by Todd M. Michney and White Flight by Kevin Kruse.)

It’s the mis-education of some white children about evolution, Genesis, slavery, and the history of the US. (See Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen.)

It’s having police in schools who abuse and arrest minority eight-year-olds for behaving like … eight-year-olds.

It’s prioritizing white men, offering them more mercy than people of color, even rapists, by giving them multiple chances before arresting them and letting them off easy when convicted. (See Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump.)

It’s having a harder time getting a good paying job due to the lack of access to a good education.

It’s white people having connections to prestigious institutions, leading to better jobs and promotions.

It’s Black people not being seen as human, even by the medical community.

It’s police coming down harder on Black people for small infractions than white people for major ones. (See The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander.)

It’s the myth of the “welfare queen,” and the idea that poor people are just lazy, moochers, or criminals.

It’s the prioritization of money over people. Money in the United States has become the end rather than the means to an end. Workers have been devalued in this process, going from assets to liabilities. (See the importance to many of opening the economy.)

It’s the lack of the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation. Neither do Social Security payments.

It’s the constant underfunding of mental health, physical health, and social workers as well as Medicare and Social Security.

 It’s using police to fill in that gap, too often with deadly results.

 These are the things that Black Lives Matter are protesting, among others. These protestors are protesting America’s inability to keep people from being poor; protesting its desire to keep people poor. They are protesting in the streets even in the midst of the pandemic because the cause is worth the risk. It’s worth it to the many Black people; it’s worth it to many of their allies.

God’s call usually entails some risk – otherwise people would not shrink from it. How is this verse speaking to us today? What is God calling us to do? What’s the first step? Let’s take that step today.

B