For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
Matthew 26:11 (ESV)

I have always had difficulty with this verse. At first, Jesus’ words can sound almost dismissive. Was He saying that poverty is simply a permanent part of life and there is little point in trying to change it? Was He suggesting that helping the poor was somehow less important than an extravagant act of worship? That does not sound like the Jesus we encounter throughout the Gospels. He fed the hungry, welcomed the outcast, healed the sick, and repeatedly taught His followers to care for those in need. So what did He mean?

The setting is important. Jesus was in Bethany, in the home of Simon the leper, when a woman approached Him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment and poured it over His head. The disciples were upset. To them, it seemed wasteful. The ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Their objection sounds reasonable. Perhaps I would have thought the same thing. Why use something so valuable in a single moment when the money could have helped many people?

But Jesus saw what the disciples did not. He knew that His death was near, and He understood the meaning of the woman’s act even if she did not fully understand it herself. She was preparing His body for burial. There would never be another opportunity quite like this one.

When Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you,” He was not saying that the poor did not matter. He was saying that His physical presence among them would soon come to an end. The disciples would have many future opportunities to help those in need, but this woman’s opportunity to honor Him before His death would never come again.

There is another part of His statement that is easy to miss. Jesus appears to be drawing from Deuteronomy:

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.
Deuteronomy 15:11 (ESV)

That changes the way I hear His words. The passage does not say, “The poor will always exist, so there is nothing you can do.” It says that because there will always be people in need, God’s people must always be ready to help them. The persistence of poverty is not an excuse for indifference. It is the reason generosity must remain a continuing responsibility.

There is also something uncomfortable about the disciples’ response. Their criticism sounded morally admirable, but John tells us that Judas was not truly concerned about the poor. He kept the moneybag and had been stealing from it. His apparently righteous argument concealed a very different motive.

That should cause all of us to pause. It is possible to use a worthy cause to criticize someone else while avoiding an honest examination of our own hearts. We may question how another person gives, serves, worships, or uses what belongs to them, while never asking what we ourselves are doing with what God has entrusted to us.

Jesus was not placing devotion to Him in opposition to concern for the poor. We are not asked to choose between worship and compassion. Genuine love for Christ should make us more generous, not less. If our worship never moves us toward those who are suffering, something is missing. Yet if our concern for good causes leaves little room for Christ Himself, something is missing there as well.

The woman in Bethany recognized the importance of the moment before her. The disciples saw an expense that could be calculated. She saw Jesus. I wonder how often I miss what God has placed directly in front of me because I am thinking about what might be done somewhere else. It is easy to speak about poverty in the abstract. It is harder to open my hand to a particular person. It is easy to talk about loving people. It is harder to make the phone call, give the money, offer forgiveness, or interrupt my schedule when someone needs me.

 

None of us can solve all the suffering in the world. The scale of the need can become so overwhelming that we may be tempted to do nothing. But Jesus does not ask us to solve everything. He asks us to remain faithful with the people, resources, and opportunities He has placed before us.

Some opportunities will come again. Others will not. The woman could not prevent the cross, but she could honor Jesus while He was still with her. She gave what she had when she had the opportunity, and Jesus called it a beautiful thing.

So perhaps the question is not simply, “Why will there always be poor people?” Perhaps the more personal question is, “Since there are people in need around me, is my hand open or closed?”

Jesus did not use the continuing existence of poverty to excuse our inaction. He reminded His disciples that opportunities to care for the poor would always be present. At the same time, He taught them not to miss the sacred opportunity standing directly before them.

The needs of the world will always be greater than anything I can meet by myself. But that does not relieve me of the responsibility to respond to the need I can meet. I may not be able to change the whole world, but I can allow Christ to change the way I see—and serve—the person standing in front of me.

Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.

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