[1] A story of conformity?

The following account appears in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John: Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me” (John 12:1-8; see also, Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9).

What was Jesus attempting to say with the narration of this event? Was he telling us that it is necessary to have people who are poor … that we need such people in order to employ them in difficult work that others refuse to do? Are there people who are unable to better themselves economically and therefor, poverty is an evil that has no solution? There will always be poor people! Nothing can be done to remedy those situations of poverty!

This text, so often misunderstood, has been used to justify the uselessness of proclaiming the possibility of creating a world based on equality since Jesus himself proclaimed that there will always be people who are poor.

Nevertheless, this text must be viewed within the broader context of the gospel message which continually speaks about the equality of all human persons. If Jesus, then, preached about the equality of people, how could he possibly have uttered those words about the continued presence of poor people in our midst.?

Those words of Jesus, however, are telling us that we will find Jesus in those men and women who are poor and therefore, people must engage in activities on behalf of those who are poor.

In other words, when Jesus spoke those words, he was telling people that they had to focus their attention on Jesus; it was time to be with him, the incarnate Son of God. But he also warned them and stated: you will not always have me in your midst. It was as if Jesus was saying: Look, at this moment allow this woman to pour perfume over me; after I am gone, you will have the poor and then pour perfume over them. The poor you will always have with you but there will come a time when you will not long see me in the same way that you do now.

You always have the poor with you. How many times has this text been interpreted in a “conformist” manner? How many times have people thought and spoken and acted in a manner that justified their own selfishness? How many times have we heard people say: even Jesus agreed with inequality among human beings? How many times have we stated: some people are born rich and other are poor … that’s the way life is?

Many times Jesus’ words have been used in order to maintain situations of exploitation … situations that allowed a dominant class of people to impose oppressive systems on others. In the past as well as now at this present time, various means have been utilized in order to continue such exploitation, for example, tools such as the media and propaganda. At the same time, the institutions of religion and the family have also been utilized in order to disseminate such ideas. Often the realities of every day life are used to justify oppression.

For the ruling class, armed struggle is not enough. People must become convinced that the system of oppression is good, that there is no other possibility, that it is natural for some people to become rich at the expense of others and therefore, there is no need for sharing with others and distributing wealth among others … there will always be people who are poor.

[2] From ideology to the practice of the Kingdom of God

In order to justify domination over those who are poor, false ideas are propagated. There are countless examples of such propaganda: an unwillingness to share that which is illegally appropriated is justified by stating that it is natural for human beings to be selfish; in order to soothe the conscience of those who are unwilling to share their wealth, they speak about aggressiveness and violence as part of the human psyche and it is for that reason that there are wars and crime; in order to justify low wages, wages of hunger, people will say that manual labor is not worth the same as intellectual labor; in order to not provide equal benefits to everyone, people will say that women do not possess the same qualities and aptitudes as men … all of that is ideology.

Ideology is intended to make members of a specific society conform to the reality as it is, not the reality as it should be. Ideology penetrates people’s awareness so that they begin to think that situations of exploitation are normal and therefore, they no longer view themselves as persons who are oppressed or exploited.

This same understanding of ideology has been utilized by the members of the dominant class in their dealings with those people who are poor. They create feelings of intimidation; they have recourse to laws and authority and endow them with a sacred quality. Since the laws are developed from the perspective of the interests of the ruling class, they therefore invest themselves with authority and know how and when to use such authority. They will often speak about the need for some people to study and for other to work, for some people to lead and for others to be led. According to said ideology, it is also necessary to have some people who are rich and other who are poor … rich people who provide employment; poor people who work.

In this way the members of the dominant class inhibit the transformative power of the poor, creating in them an inferiority complex. They are cunning and use honesty as a pretext to impede people in the search to have their just demands heard and affirmed.

Such a use of ideology prevents any possibility for social transformation. Such concepts are utilized over and over and as such prevent the development of culture and the evolution of society toward one that is more just and human.

Christians used the gospel text (you will always have the poor with you) to justify the accumulation of goods and the inappropriate use of such goods: Jesus’ words are misunderstood when they are used in order to fill the coffers of the churches with gold. When this tendency began to spread in former eras, the Fathers of the Church raised their voices and denounced this excess … four hundred years after the death of Jesus Christ, Saint John Chrysostom stated: God has no need at all of golden vessels, but of golden souls. And these things I say, not forbidding such offerings to be provided; but requiring you, together with them, and before them, to give alms. For He accepts indeed the former, but much more the latter. For in the one the offerer alone is profited, but in the other the receiver also. Here the act seems to be a ground even of ostentation; but there all is mercifulness, and love to man. For what is the profit, when His table indeed is full of golden cups, but He perishes with hunger?

Jesus’ words can also be understood in the following manner: Jesus did not mean that there should be people who are poor but rather that there will be poor people because of the selfishness of human beings. Therefore, Christians have an obligation to serve and minister on behalf of those who are poor.

Thus, poor people exist not because this is something that God desires but rather because of human selfishness and injustice … there are poor people because of unjust structures and social conditions. Many people have stated that much of today’s wealth is the result of the oppression of the poor and the attachment of people to material goods.

In the globalized world in which we live, a small minority of people have great wealth and enjoy all the fruits of modern technology while, at the same time, the vast majority of people struggle on a daily basis to satisfy their most basic human needs.  So many people are unemployed, have no access to health care, to mental health care, to education, to adequate housing and transportation … in other words, so many people are unable to exercise their rights as citizens.

Yes, there are poor people, many people who are hungry, many people who roam this planet in search of dignity … these are the people who live on the peripheries of our large cities and who are forgotten and abandoned. Few people take up their cause … in other words, there is a great lack of solidarity.

Society has treated people in the same manner as neoliberal philosophy … society views the poor as “disposable human beings”. As the members of the Vincentian Family draw ever closer to those who are poor, they become at the same time present to Jesus and they accompany Jesus.

Vincent de Paul expressed this same idea when he stated: I must not judge a poor peasant man or woman be their appearance or their apparent intelligence, especially since very often they scarcely have the expression or the mind of rational persons, so crude and vulgar they are. But turn the medal and you will see by the light of faith that the Son of God, who willed to be poor, is represented to us by these poor people (CCD:XI:26).

Fr. Mizael Donizetti Poggioli, CM
Province of Curitiba

Translated:
Charles T. Plock, CM
(Eastern Province, USA)