Gospel for the poor

                Christ was not making a historical observation when he declared: The gospel is preached to the poor.The accent is on the gospel that the gospel is for the poor. Here the word “poor” does not simply mean poverty but all who suffer, are unfortunate, wretched, wronged, oppressed, crippled, lame, leprous, demonic. Since the gospel is preached to them, gospel remains only for them. The gospel becomes good news for them. What good news? Not: money, health, status, and so on – no, this is not Christianity. For the poor the gospel is the good news because to be unfortunate in this world is a sign of God’s nearness. So it was originally; this is the gospel in the New Testament. It is preached for “the poor,” and it is preached by the poor who, if they in other respects were not suffering, would eventually suffer by proclaiming the gospel; since suffering is inseparable from following Christ, from telling the truth.