In America, poverty is often talked about, but rarely is oppression preached upon. To understand poverty, a person, a church must first understand the biblical teaching on oppression and riches. To understand poverty/the poor, we should begin with Luke 4:18 and 6:20 & 24, not Mt. 5:3. If you begin with Mt. 5:3 "poor in spirit" you will likely over individualize poverty. If you begin with Luke 4 and 6, you will put the poor in their necessary context; social context is crucial to proper understanding. Luke 4:18 ties poverty and oppression together; the OT often makes this connection.
Biblically, oppression is the number one cause of poverty. Isaiah 61:1 can and probably should be translated "the oppressed poor." The NRSV and the CEV translate the Hebrew as "oppressed" not "poor" as do the RSV and NIV. According to Thomas Hanks, the OT teaches that "oppression smashes the body and crushes the human spirit." Systems of oppression can last for generations---think Haitian and American slavery.
Luke 6:20 & 24: "Blessed are the poor. . . . Woe to the rich. . . . " again put poverty in its social context; there is an unhealthy, unjust relationship between the rich and the poor. "Woe" and "blessed" are strong words. Since the rich in the NT are usually described as greedy, idolatrous and oppressive (James 2:6), their end is hell (Luke 16:19-31). Woe in Greek means agonizing groan, great anguish, torment as in hell. The NT does not give the rich a gentle slap on the wrist and a verbal "naughty, naughty." Instead, it hits the rich over the head with a club accompanied with a severe verbal condemnation for being evil-doers, doers of injustice. Such people are doomed, hellbound. But most American preachers soft pedal the hard biblical teaching on oppression and the rich.
What does blessed mean in this context? Spirit empowered release from oppression, from the clutches of the rich; this requires that the church incarnate Jubilee justice in a community/society. Anything less is not comprehensive good news for the poor. Charity is good, but not anywhere good enough.
God is on the side of the oppressed poor; biblically this is a given. The question is, where is the church? In James 2, the church sided with the oppressor rich, not with the oppressed poor. James scolded the church for a pious faith that was not combing love and justice to do generous good works. Only if the church's top social priority is doing Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor, can the poor become blessed. Anything less is just religious talk, pious blabber. Never use the phrase "poor in spirit" to avoid the above hard truth about oppression and the evil rich.
In NT times, the Romans were often brutal oppressors so most Jews focused on Roman oppression. Not Jesus. He saw internal Jewish oppression, the religious temple functioning as a system of oppression, asn the number one problem. In the U>S>, often we have made Communism or terrorism the number one problem, while we largely ignore the huge role that corporate, crony capitalism plays in creating and maintaining oppression. To solve the problem of poverty, we must move beyond the bandaids of charity to the surgery of Jubilee justice; to solve poverty, we must stop oppression and do justice.
Next, I would like to do a condensation and paraphrase of the CEV translation of Isaiah 61:1-8. While this was originally written about Jesus, the coming Messiah, I would like the reader to think of the church, the body of Christ: The Spirit has taken control of me, chosen me, sent me to tell the oppressed poor good news, to announce the freedom that will accompany the year of Jubilee justice. Then joyous praise will replace broken hearts; the oppressed poor will become trees of justice. I, the Lord, realize that the oppressed poor were teribly insulted and horribly ill-treated. I, the Lord, love justice; I, the Lord, hate injustice.
Ask most white American evangelicals about poverty and they will appear quite knowledgeable about who the poor are and why they are poor. Ask these same people what the Bible teaches about oppression, and suddenedly they will seem ignorant and uninformed. Not only lay people, but scholars as well. Well-meaning white evangelicals have written a number of books on poverty, but I have not found more than a light mention of the extensive biblical teaching that oppression causes poverty. Never a chapter on oppression. No American evangelical theologian or bible scholar has ever published a book on the extensive biblical teaching on oppression. The third edition of the IVP Bible Dictionary has no entry on oppression. Most white American evangelicals do not know the poor firsthand; they are not at home with the poor; and they are ignorant of the biblical teaching on oppression and justice. So you cannot believe anything they say beyond charity.
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