“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” Matthew 25:40.
What does poverty look like? What is life actually like for someone living in poverty?
To be honest – I don’t know. I have always had what I needed for life. I know that not all of us can say this. Some of us have experienced poverty and know its impact, personally.
Jesus is clear about the nature of poverty in the judgement parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25. The signs of poverty are laid out for us. A person living in poverty is a stranger to us. They experience hunger, thirst, sickness, nakedness and are more likely to be found in prison. Poverty is de-humanising.
There is also some consistency between Article 25 in the UN Charter of Human Rights, a right to an adequate standard of living (health, food, housing, medical care, and social services) and the description of people’s vulnerability as given by Jesus.
One sign of being a disciple of Jesus is the response we have the reality of poverty. We are to welcome the stranger, give water, food, clothes, care and visit (get to know them). Giving to someone who is in need is a means of affirming their worth and their human right to not live in poverty.
As we do these things we also address the causes of poverty and discover, surprisingly, that we are responding to Jesus. He is present in the other and we are welcomed into eternal life.
The intent of God’s action in creation was not that some would live in poverty while others would not but that all creation would flourish in the confidence of the goodness and generosity of the creator.
Rev John Gilmore, NCCA President