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The Beatitudes in Luke's gospel begins with Jesus pronouncing: "Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God" (NRSV Luke6:20). Rather than poverty and lack, many Christians today regard wealth and success as God's blessing. In The Peoples' Beatitude, J.B Philips aptly captured such mentality with the initial pronouncement: "Happy are the pushers for they get on in the world" (J.B Philips). Nevertheless, i have also come to understand that in Luke's passage the poor were literally those in the lower tier of society-the outcast and the helpless. Certainly, Luke was not excluding the rich from God's Kingdom blessings. But he had a point though- without much earthly wealth, power or statues the poor are more readily eager to love and entrust themselves to God's free mercy and grace, looking for His protection and provision. So that even now, many are beginning to live by the Kingdom values, preceding the rich in reaping God's blessings. The following true story, which happened last Christmas would help to illustrate Luke's perspective.
Kate came from a poor family background, and as far as i know she started working without completing her degree education due to her family financial situation. Shortly after joining our small group bible study, she decided that she should strive to complete her university degree. This she did. And to sustain her education expenses, she took on part-time jobs whenever they were available. Despite her burdens, Kate continued to serve faithfully in Church ministries, never harbouring any bitterness against anyone or against the Lord. Whenever one of us happened to ask about her financial situation, she would kindly reply: "no worry, the Lord knows He will provide".
Faithfully, Kate worked, studied and served through her first few semesters. Few weeks before last Christmas our small group decided to raise some funds to help Kate through her final year in the university, so that she could concentrate her studies without worrying about money. All sorts of ideas on how to raise funds were suggested. Some contributed generously from our savings, some sell small gift items, and one brother, who had never ran a marathon before, completed a 42km run to help raise funds for her. The Lord blessed our efforts and we raised more than what we set out to achieve.
Finally, Christmas came. All eyes were on Kate during the gift exchange. With a broad grin our small group leader walked up to her shaked her hand and presented her our gift of love. He explained how we have desired to help lighten her financial situation, and although it was not a big sum, it was enough to tie her through the final year in University. Suddenly, without a word, she broke down in tears. The room was silent no one knew what to say or do. It took quite a while before Kate got hold of herself. She sobbed saying: " I am so thankful. Thank you all, thank you. You know, i am only left with 40 bucks in my bank account, and i was praying like crazy for God to provide. The Lord is good! Thank you."
Thinking back that was the best Christmas celebration i ever had. Truly being poor could be a blessing in disguise. For it is when we have nothing much earthly to fall back on that we could really learnt to depend on God's mercy, boasting that the Almighty creator is my provider and protector. What a blessing!
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