Lent

April 2, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

Some people interpret Jesus’s statement You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me, as there is nothing, we can do about the poor. I think he was saying we need to use our time wisely. Poverty does, indeed, strike individuals and families and in Matthew 25 Jesus tells us we are to incorporate the alleviation of lack of food, appropriate clothing, and health care into our service to God.  The statement you will always have the poor with you, however, recognizes that poverty is a systemic problem that not only requires attention to meeting needs but also changing societal norms that support poverty’s existence.

About 97 million more people are living on less than $1.90 a day because of the pandemic, increasing the global poverty rate from 7.8 to 9.1 percent; 163 million more are living on less than $5.50 a day. Globally, three to four years of progress toward ending extreme poverty are estimated to have been lost*.

U.S. Billionaires Got 62 percent Richer During Pandemic. They’re Now Up $1.8 Trillion **. Global Billionaires See $5.5 Trillion Pandemic Wealth Surge ***.

There is something very wrong with this picture.

While poverty increased during the pandemic it was running amok before the pandemic. Food stamps, childcare subsidies, and Medicaid provided for low-wage families are essentially the benefits not being provided by large corporations. Middle-class taxes are largely paying for these benefits. Small businesses suffer too because they cannot compete with the mass producers. Small farms are dying all over the country. It is a complex and difficult problem to solve and in the final analysis, because we have ignored it for some time, we will all be impacted by the necessary changes. History tells us that when the rich just keep getting richer and the poor poorer the foundation of the economy is destroyed and so goes the empires. The USA is flirting with that reality now. Greed eventually eats itself.

Jesus teaches a simple story, that loving our neighbors as we love ourselves lets us have an abundant life. John 10:10b, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Abundance is not measured in money it is the fullness of life found in spirit, soul, and body.

Prayer: Lord, show us the way to your abundance for all. Amen.

*https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/covid-19-leaves-legacy-rising-poverty-and-widening-inequality#:~:text=About%2097%20million%20more%20people,estimated%20to%20have%20been%20lost.

**https://ips-dc.org/u-s-billionaires-62-percent-richer-during-pandemic/

***https://ips-dc.org/global-billionaires-see-5-5-trillion-pandemic-wealth-surge/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.