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"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5.3)
"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." (Luke 6.20)
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8.9)
"(As servants of God)...poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." (2 Corinthians 6.10)
"Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." (Acts 3.6)
"All men are required by God to have a spirit of poverty...to do without everything you can do without...occasionally all food, the approval of your neighbours, your own certainty of being in the right - but, above all, the sense of comfort. A comfortable servant might begin to serve comfort instead of serving (God)." (James K. Baxter, New Zealand prophet, 1971)
There has always been an important tradition within the wider Christian Community, of respect for those who believe that their calling to be disciples of Jesus includes their publicly embracing physical poverty. Perhaps the best known would be Francesco Bernadone...Francis of Assisi (Italy, 13th C). After a dramatic conversion experience, he set out to live his life in literal agreement with Matthew 10.7-10:
"As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belt; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep."
In a very short space of time, Francis drew fervent followers (the "little brothers"), and together "possessing nothing they wandered about like children careless of the day, teaching or preaching, passing the night in hay-lofts or under church porches...or deserted huts." (Father Pascal Robinson, 1905)
When critics questioned him concerning his "extreme" lifestyle, Francis joyfully explained that he had married "lady poverty...a fairer bride than any of you have seen". (By this he meant, he had intentionally and totally surrendered all his worldly goods, honours and privileges to Jesus Christ!)
Another (less well-known) "husband" of "lady poverty" was Benedict Joseph Labre, a Frenchman who lived in the 18th C. From a very early age he had felt drawn to a life devoted to prayer and simplicity, but did not find a "home" in any of the monasteries or hermitages he tried to enter. He eventually felt that the Lord was calling him to live as a vagrant and a beggar, and consecrate himself completely to a life of prayer. He collapsed and died of malnutrition aged 35, on the steps of a church in Rome. This, after years of wandering all over Europe in bare feet, begging food and sleeping rough. Benedict believed he had been called (according to 1 Corinthians 4.10) to be a "fool for Christ", to "recall to men's minds the poverty of our Lord" which has made us "rich".
After his death, street-people testified that they had witnessed him miraculously multiplying and distributing to the needy, bread he had been given. Others bore witness that beggars had been healed when Benedict prayed for them. Among the very few possessions he carried about in an old sack, was a New Testament.
Now, what meaneth this? Well, for a start, this kind of thinking usually sets Protestants off big-time; roaring forth Bible verses (which justify private property and personal wealth) or rebuking "poverty spirits". It could be profitably recalled that Protestantism in its infancy was massively embraced by the merchant classes of Europe. It's just possible that they were biased in their study of the Scriptures, searching for vindication for their beloved capitalism and a desire for personal riches?
Nevertheless, my concern here is to lay bare God's probable reason for "seizing" some of His People and "espousing" them to "lady poverty". The outstanding explanation is that these Christians are prophets, who through their own persons and lifestyles are saying something immensely important to the Church on behalf of Jesus.
1) Poverty is not about the absence of wealth and possessions; it is our inability to generate riches. The poverty which the Lord says is "blessed", is knowing our complete and utter and total dependence upon Him for everything. As the New Zealand poet and prophet, James K. Baxter (who visibly and dramatically married "lady poverty" in the late 1960s) prayed: "Jesus is my water; Jesus is my food; Jesus is my prestige; Jesus is my money, Jesus is my love..." The recognition and acceptance of this radical and utterly helpless reliance upon Him, is the heart and beginning of true faith and genuine sanity for everyone...not just a few extremos!
2) This sign of poverty is a direct challenge to our widely accepted Western lifestyles, which are actually driven by the devil and the world...rather than the true Truth of the Bible, applied to us by the Spirit of Truth. Modern Christianity has been subverted and corrupted by "democracy"...the sense that what becomes acceptable to a majority of Believers is made the norm, rather than the plain teaching of Scripture.
3) This prophetic sign also directly questions our (usually scarcely considered) values and attitudes towards our neighbours who are less fortunate than we are...no matter what the cause of their privation or penury might be.
4) And finally, it is always salutary to be reminded of just how few of this world's goods we really do need to be secure and happy. Increasingly our (christian?) material appetites are being formed for us by ad agencies and their overpaid Mandarins. The so-called "prosperity gospel" is a modern, Western aberration and heresy. It is often practised as little more than a pyramid scheme in some local churches...the money flows upwards to enrich "the man of God" and his clique. The biblical pattern has ever been for the money to flow downwards, to finally reach the poorest of the poor!
The Holy Spirit via the Apostle Paul, articulates perfectly that prosperity which is Godly and permissible and acceptable:
"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4.11-13)
"But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6.6-10)
"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' " (Hebrews 13.5)
In a world (and a Church too?) overly driven by the desire for fortune and fame and power, it is imperative to remember (according to Karl Barth, 1948) that in His poverty and meekness "Jesus Christ, nailed to the cross as a criminal, created order in the realm of creation; the order in which man can live eternally as the redeemed, converted child of God."
The hermit-poet, Thomas Merton, wrote in 1949 that he existed apart from God "in the depths of an awful poverty which is nevertheless loved by Him. I am never allowed to forget that poverty. I wish I knew her beauty as well as Saint Francis did - for the external poverty he married was simply the expression of the nothingness which he loved in himself. This week, the week full of the Holy Ghost - I found out once more something of the joy there is in being nothing..."
And by 1962, Thomas Merton continued convinced that "where the Lord sees the small point of poverty and extenuation and helplessness to which the monk is reduced, the solitary and the man of tears, then He must come down and be born there in this anguish, and make it constantly a point of infinite joy, a seed of peace in the world."
