Ignore the Poor In Order To Transform Culture?

It’s common to hear that we need to reach the cultural elite and opinion-formers if we want to transform the culture. No doubt there’s something in this. But the danger is that if we adapt to reach the rich and powerful on their terms, then nothing changes. Luke’s alternative strategy for reaching people like the “most excellent” Theophilus is to point to the table fellowship of Jesus. We reach the rich by reaching the poor. Only in this way will we challenge the value system of the elite and embody God’s grace (1 Cor. 1:26–31).

If there is going to be a day of reversal, then Theophilus needs to align himself with the marginalized, poor, and persecuted com- munity of Jesus. Scott Bartchy comments: “Luke’s emphasis was probably ‘hard bread’ for the elite Christians among his readers. For participation in such a socially inclusive community might well have cut them off from their prior social networks on which their status depended.”13 That’s the significance of verses 7–11. Make sure you’re lowly, because one day the lowly will be exalted. Make sure you’re with the outsiders, because one day the outsiders will be insiders. Throughout Luke’s Gospel one’s attitude to the poor is the touchstone of genuine discipleship.

- Tim Chester, A Meal with Jesus, p. 86