The poor and the Gospel
Matthew 11:5, Luke 7:22
When a disillusioned John the baptizer sat in prison, hearing stories of Jesus which did not fit his expectancy bias, doubt settled in for a visit. He sent two of his disciples to say,
“John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
Sympathetic to his plight, Jesus answered John in a way designed to reassure Him that He was squarely on His Father’s mission.
“Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
Tucked right in there among blind people receiving their sight, lame people rediscovering the joy of running, leprosy wiped clean, the deaf hearing and even the dead being raised, Jesus added something which to Him clearly belonged in the same company; the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
The other miracles Jesus enumerates are all spectacular in their outcomes and are the cause of great joy. They are things most people never accomplish. The good news being proclaimed to the poor, is equally so.
Recently while ministering in Uganda I had a glimpse of what this means as I met with a group of pastors who have given themselves to serve God’s people. They shepherd flocks of believers living in very difficult circumstances.
Very few of them were well educated by our standards. Very few of them were eating 3 meals a day and most were happy to have an infrequent single meal a day. Their economy is broken due to the ravages of Covid and government responses to that scourge. Almost everyone in authority above them views them as fair game. From governmental regulations, to local authorities, the expectation is that justice is nowhere to be found in these streets. Powerful business owners take advantage of their lack of resources, large church leaders, powerful enough to own radio stations or TV programs plunder them for personal gain. From claims about miracles at a price, to healing properties of waters from springs owned and sold by these supposed Christian leaders, to claims about reserving them a place in the lambs book of life again for a price, these poor Christian leaders are plundered by those in positions of influence.
Standing there, among these people, who have so little hope and limited resources, I was filled with an overwhelming gratitude to the Lord. I was grateful that so many had given with extraordinary generosity to serve these people. I was thankful that we were able to go and provided manuals specifically written for them, along with 3 meals a day and a team of carefully selected ministers to bless them. I was especially blessed that as I stood there among these pastors that we had not charged or fleeced them or positioned their loyalty and trust of us for personal gain. It was a great privilege to proclaim God’s good news to the poor. We told them of God’s love for them and they began to believe.
On the way home we discussed the wonders God had done through this trip, the words of knowledge, the healings, the weeping respondents to accurate prophetic words, the encouragement to churches and the engagements with God appointed moments. The sign that stood out to me the most, was proclaiming the good news to the poor. Standing among those poor men and women and speaking encouragement and hope to them, encouraging them with the faithfulness of Jesus, reminding them of His love, assuring them that His grace never stops flowing, was my favorite memory of this trip.
That we did not join the crowd of predators who view them only as spoil but instead chose to serve them was our great joy. I consider it a great privilege to build into these beautiful leaders and see His grace transform a nation.
