The poor
The 8th Sunday after Pentecost
Those who exploit the powerless anger their maker,
while those who are kind to the poor honor God. ~ Proverbs 14:31 (CEB)
Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ ~ Matthew 25:40 (MSG)
SUMMARY SENTENCE
One of the most important ways that we worship/honor God is by showing extreme kindness to those living on the margins.
PRAYER
Master, Jesus, thank you for coming to address our poverty through the incarnation, the cross, and the resurrection. I confess that I've been inclined to see your actions as merely having spiritual implications. That's wrong. Give me a passion for the whole gospel -- a gospel which deals with our spiritual, physical, and emotional poverty. I'm going to get my head out of the clouds and live as your agent of reconcilation -- partnering with you as you address the needs of all creation. Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
