Poor Rich People - A Reflection on Luke 6:20-26



Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.

“Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

 

There was a time when everybody believed the earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around it. Then, in the 16th century, the Polish astronomer Copernicus developed a model that placed the Sun at the center of the Solar System with the earth revolving around it. Many people went ballistic because it shook a very core belief, and he faced a lot of opposition. Today, of course, it is an accepted fact, but it took several years for people to reconcile themselves to this view.

 

Jesus shook everybody’s core beliefs almost every time he opened his mouth, and perhaps never more than when he pronounced the blessings and woes that we heard him pronounce today. These were outrageous statements that he made. We won’t be able to look at them all in just a few paragraphs, so let us look at just one of the blessings and the corresponding woe. He said: “Blessed are you who are poor,  for yours is the kingdom of God. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:20,24).

 

His poorer listeners would have been shocked and his richer listeners would have mocked scornfully, because they had been taught to believe that the poor suffered because of their sins and the rich were blessed because of their favor with God. So, why was Jesus inverting the equation? We have an answer in a parable that he once told about a farmer. One summer, this farmer had such a huge crop, he didn’t know what to do with it! Then he figured he’d tear down his old barns and build new ones. He’d store his goods and his grains in them, and then eat, drink, and make merry for the rest of his life. 

 

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ (Luke 12:20). Then Jesus throws in the punch line: “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). The problem was not that he was rich; the problem was that he was not rich toward God. We, too, are often guilty of the same thing. In a world which lives by a money-based value system, we judge others (and ourselves) by wealth. Consequently, we often value money more than Jesus. 

 

This is why Jesus say the poor are blessed. There are, of course, rich believers, but most moneyed people feel insulated by their wealth. Because they have everything they need to live a luxurious life, they have very little need for God. But this is short-sighted, no? Concerned only with themselves and their own pleasures for the present moment, they are unmindful of eternity, and by not looking towards God they are damning themselves. Isn’t it, therefore, a blessing to be poor?

 

So, if you don’t have anything but you have God, take heart. Yours is the kingdom of God.

 

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/0a6rHgVqKFQ

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