“The Poor You Will Always Have With You”
When One Verse Undoes an Entire Gospel
“The Poor You Will Always Have With You”
When One Verse Undoes an Entire Gospel
There’s a moment in the Gospels where Jesus says something that gets quoted a lot.
Usually by people who want to not do something.
“The poor you will always have with you.”
I’ve heard it used as an excuse more times than I can count.
Usually by church folks explaining why helping the poor is kind of a lost cause.
They’ll say it gently. Shoulders shrugged.
“As Jesus said… the poor will always be with us.”
Which I guess is meant to mean:
Don’t worry too much about solving poverty.
Don’t get too political.
Don’t go all bleeding heart.
Jesus understood the reality of the world.
But did he mean that?
Let’s look closer.
The Prooftext Trap
This is a textbook example of prooftexting—ripping one verse out of its context to make a theological point the original author wasn’t making.
It’s the opposite of reading the Bible with integrity.
Because let’s be honest:
If you isolate any one line from a complex text, you can make it say almost anything.
You can use it to defend slavery, misogyny, war, colonization, or unchecked capitalism.
And people do.
If a single verse seems to contradict the entire direction of Jesus’ story—maybe it’s not the verse that needs explaining.
Maybe it’s us.
What Jesus Actually Said
This quote appears in John 12:8 and Mark 14:7.
The scene?
Jesus is in Bethany.
Mary breaks open a jar of expensive perfume and pours it on his feet.
It’s a lavish, intimate moment. A burial anointing in advance.
Judas objects:
“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?”
Sounds noble.
But the text immediately undercuts him:
“He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief…” (John 12:6)
And then Jesus responds:
“Leave her alone… The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.”
This wasn’t Jesus dismissing the poor.
And it wasn’t a cynical statement about poverty.
It was a defense of Mary’s act of love—and, according to John’s Gospel, a subtle exposure of Judas’s hypocrisy.
The narrator makes it explicit:
Judas didn’t care about the poor—he just wanted access to the money.
So when Jesus says “the poor you will always have,”
he’s not downplaying compassion.
He’s highlighting how quickly we use compassion as a cover for ego or greed.
A Verse Within a Verse
Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 15:11:
“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.”
Read that again.
It doesn’t mean “don’t bother helping.”
It means the opposite.
There are always poor people—so be generous.
It’s a lovely irony—people quote the first half of the verse to justify greed, not realizing the second half commands generosity.
Jesus’s audience would have known the reference.
He wasn’t introducing a new idea.
He was echoing a commandment of care.
Jesus and the Poor: The Bigger Story
The idea that Jesus didn’t care about the poor is almost laughable.
Unless you’ve never actually read the Gospels.
“Blessed are the poor.”
“Woe to you who are rich.”
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor.”
“Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.”
He lived among the poor.
Taught among them.
Ate with them.
Healed them.
And most importantly—he himself was poor.
In Luke 4, Jesus defines his whole mission like this:
“He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor…”
That’s the through line.
That’s the story.
So if you’re using one sentence to justify your distance from the poor,
you’re probably using that sentence wrong.
Final Thought
I’ve said it since day one on here:
You can make the Bible say anything you want.
This verse is one example.
There are many others.
Like this one:
He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” Luke 22:36 (NIV)
That one verse gets used to justify violence—even though the entire arc of his story is nonviolent.
And don’t get me wrong.
The Bible doesn’t just have verses that are misunderstood.
It has verses that are just… wrong.
Verses that say it’s okay to own a slave.
Or beat that slave, as long as they recover after a couple days.
Verses about silencing women.
About stoning disobedient children.
About God ordering genocide.
So let’s just be honest:
The Bible is not a magic 8 ball.
It’s not a “gotcha” machine.
It’s not a license to be greedy, selfish, racist, misogynistic, arrogant, or violent.
It doesn’t hand out divine permission slips for bad behavior.
Not even if you can find a verse to back it up.
If the story of Jesus taught us anything—
it’s that love, humility, and compassion are the main point.
So if your beliefs are based on one verse that contradicts that,
maybe it’s not actually as strong of a position as you think it is.
Beautiful unpacking, Joe. And there’s something else that glows beneath the surface here—a thread from Jesus’ non-dual teachings.
When he says, “The poor you will always have with you,” he’s not just quoting Deuteronomy. He might also be inviting us to peer past the binaries our egos love—rich/poor, sacred/profane, justice/worship.
Non-dual teachers often speak in riddles that crack the mind open. Jesus could be doing just that—pointing out how easily we hide behind spiritual language to avoid facing the suffering that’s “always with us”… not just socially, but in our very being.
Because maybe “the poor” aren't just a group out there, but also a condition in here—a hunger for connection, for compassion, for the Real. And so, we’re called to respond to poverty both materially and mystically. Through action, yes—but also through presence. Through extravagant love, like Mary pouring the perfume.
It’s not either/or. It’s always/and. Justice and intimacy. The poor and the Christ. Always with us.
Sorta dumps the "Prosperity Gospel" on it's head.