White wristbands, a passionate shaggy haired Irish guy who made it big with a band and the eight most powerful leaders on the planet. Make poverty history eh? But didn’t Jesus say that the poor would always be with us? ALOVE asks the tough questions.

The shout from Live 8 wasn’t, ‘give us your **** money’ as it was back in the 80’s with Live Aid. It was principally not an issue of aid but of justice. Why justice? Because part of the problem involved nations in debt, owing huge sums of money to the west and struggling to meet even the interest payments attached to those loans. The slogan, ‘make poverty history’ suggests that the poor could be taken out of poverty. That poverty itself can become history.

Is it possible to eradicate poverty, didn’t Jesus say that the poor would always be with us? And if that’s true what motivation is there for you and me to do anything about it.

Jesus was familiar with poverty; he saw and lived among it, seeing first hand its effects. In first century Palestine there was a clear set of boundaries, which separated the rich from the poor. The rich would typically consist of observant Jewish leaders and those wealthy persons associated with the Herodians and Romans . Wealth came as part of political power or the ownership of land. Jesus’ family as non land owners but with some practical skills could have carved out a small living (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9.58), though it is worth noting that Jesus parents offered the sacrifice of the poor at the temple when he was born (Luke 2:24).

In general, the Jewish culture accepted the distinctions of wealthy and poor and worked with it. The rich were encouraged to give to the poor almost as a way of gaining Gods favor. So in a bizarre way, the poor provided a means for the rich and the wealthy to gain Gods blessing through acts of charity.

There were then, as there are now, many reasons why people were poor. Those whose crops had failed could find themselves penniless and homeless, political authorities changing land rites, war and exorbitant taxes levied both by the temple and the state. The list makes familiar reading!

Set against this were Old Testament instructions on how to treat the poor. This included the Sabbath year (every seventh year) in which debts were to be canceled and land to left fallow to allow the poor to eat whatever grew there (Exodus 23:11). The parameters of fields were to be for the poor to take food (Leviticus 19:9); all this was to assist those who were at the very bottom of the social system. Some were so far in debt that they would sell themselves into slavery and so to meet this kind of poverty the Sabbath year also freed such people (Deuteronomy 15:12).

So it is against this backdrop that Jesus brings his teaching, and with startling results. It wasn’t that he brought a different set of instructions; it was the emphasis that was radical.

The pursuit of material gain Jesus said was a divisive action. You cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). And the startling statement given to the disciples that it would be harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle (Mark 10:25), making it impossible came as a profound shock. Only with God can the impossible happen as Zacchaeus proved (Luke 19:1-10).

What follows can get a little uncomfortable; we are required to ask ourselves where we store our treasures. If it is in the things around us, then like the rich fool (Luke 12: 16-21, we will not be wealthy towards God. Simply put, where are treasure is, there will be our hearts (Matthew 6:21).

But what has this to do with making poverty history and the notion of the poor always being with us? This is the canvas onto which Jesus paints his radical Spirit filled program. The kingdom is our future hope with glimpses of that hope now. Our perspective should not be one of days or years, but of the eternal. The Father will not disown his children and the Holy Spirit frees the believer to respond to Jesus demands.

This brings us to a woman in Bethany who anointed Jesus feet with expensive perfume. She understood God’s provision (Matthew 6:25-34), and Jesus responded with the bigger picture. The poor will be present, but when we are freed to respond to God, we can place Jesus in his right place and release our resources. It is this understanding that challenges us not to be passive or defeatist but motivated and over-comers.

Jesus saw events in an eschatological sense; he saw the bigger picture and weighed his day-to-day activities against eternity. This is the key feature when considering our response to what we see in our world. Poverty can strike for the reasons above and others: that is our wake-up call, to be a community that can be available to those in need. When poverty is manufactured on a human level, either by war or political will, we should challenge that system and make it possible to make this sort of poverty history.

The members of the G8 have gone some way to canceling debt as well as doubling aid by 2010 and in doing so have taken a step forward to help alleviate poverty. The challenge for us is to allow the Holy Spirit to free you and I so that we can respond to Jesus with more than just our time.

Look up some Christian responses to the poor through out scripture.

Exodus 22:25-27; 23:11
Leviticus 19:9-10; 25:25-28, 35-43
Deuteronomy 14:28-29; 15:2-14; 24:12-21; 26:12-13
Isaiah 1:7; 16:3-4; 58:7, 10
Matthew 5:42; 19:21; 25:35-36
Acts 20:35
Romans 12:8, 13, 20
1Corinthians 13:3; 16:1-2
2Corinthians 6:10; 8:9; 9:5-7
Galatians 2:10; 6:10
Ephesians 4:28;
1Timothy 5:9-10, 16

Click here and read up on the outcome of the G8 Summit.