Proverbs 17.5
“Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.”
The Lord cares about the poor, the indigent, and the disenfranchised. Therefore, one of the distinguishing characteristics of the followers of Jesus is ministry to the poor. Indifference toward the poor … or worse, “mocking” those in poverty … is an insult to God.
In particular, this proverb says there will be consequences for those hard-hearted people who are glad when others suffer hard times. The NT book of James comments on this: “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.” (James 1.9-11)
James speaks to economic and social status and emphasizes that we should not allow our identity or ego to get attached to our position in the world. He turns the normal social structure upside down.
Because of their lower social status, the poor might feel tempted to see themselves as lesser in the eyes of God. James asserts that their lowly status is exalted and tells them to “boast” in it. Then he says that wealthy Christians, because of their higher social status, might feel tempted to see themselves as greater in the eyes of God. James asserts that they should be humble and boast in the “lowliness” of their position, because in God’s kingdom earthly wealth is not a higher status.
God is not against wealth; he is against the distorted value that people place on it. It is for that reason that scripture repeatedly warns against wealth. The pattern in history is that wealth (more so than poverty) is often a spiritual stumbling block. Because their physical needs are met, people with wealth and power can be blind to the reality that they are sinners in need of a Savior. They become attached to their physical wealth and fail to see their spiritual poverty.
The poor have an altogether different experience. They know what poverty feels like, and they know what it is like to be physically in need, which makes them more open to acknowledging their spiritual need for a Savior.
“No one can serve two masters,” Jesus said, “for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Mt. 6.24). And later in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
(The “Eye of the Needle” was a gate in Jerusalem which opened after the main gate was closed at night. A camel could only pass through this smaller gate if it was stooped and had its baggage removed.)
James exhorts both poor and rich Christians to remember that the sole basis for their confidence is their identity in Christ. Those believers who are poor, insignificant and of no account in the eyes of the world, are to rejoice in their relationship with the Lord who has been exalted to the highest position in the universe. Rich believers, well off and physically secure in their possessions, with great status in the eyes of the world, are to remember that their only lasting security comes through their relationship with the ‘man of suffering’, ‘despised and rejected by mankind’.
No matter our economic status, we must look at our lives from a heavenly, not an earthly, perspective. Both wealth and poverty are conditions which require insight from God. Being wealthy does not make you more spiritual, and neither does being poor. Our identity is in Christ, not in our bank account or social status.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mt. 6.19-21)
When Jesus returns and brings a new heaven and new earth, both the poverty and the wealth of the fallen world will give way to the true riches and glory of God’s kingdom.
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Philippians 3.20-21)
