June 11, 2024

Proverbs 22.2 (NIV)

Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the maker of them all.

“First Class” may get you a better seat, but you still arrive at the same destination.*

Before discussing what the rich and poor have in common, let’s talk about their differences. The rich have wealth and power, the poor do not. The rich may have gained their wealth and power through their intelligence, their hard work, good luck, or a life of crime, or through some combination of these methods. The poor have arrived at their sad state through foolishness, unwillingness to work hard, bad luck, or because they were victimized by another, or some combination of these.

 

What the rich and poor have in common is that we all have the same creator; we all are sinful; and we all die. Whether we lead our lives with lots of money or none, we all came from the same place. There may be social differences among people but we all have the same rights and “mutual obligations of respect and kindness.”* We all are guilty “at the bar of God’s justice.”* The rich will not be judged by a different standard than the poor.

 

Paul points out something else that we have in common, no matter what our station in life: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3.28) I think that covers rich and poor, too!

Jesus didn’t just go looking for poor, disenfranchised people to hang out with. He didn’t come to include the outcasts and exclude the “in crowd,” and he didn’t come to help the poor at the expense of the rich.*