Psalm 41: Blessed Is the One Who Cares for the Poor

Introduction

"Blessed is he who considers the poor." That Sunday, at the Église Évangélique Méthodiste de Strasbourg, the service is prepared by the team of Solidarité Emmanuel, the association that carries the social calling of the church. Every Friday, about fifty families, often undocumented and without resources, come there to receive food.

After a volunteer shares her testimony, Pastor Pierre-Emmanuel Panis adds a dimension she did not mention: the prayer before each distribution. The whole team puts everything in God's hands, gives thanks for the food received, prays for the food bank, for the families in their difficult situations, and to know how to "be witnesses of Jesus" to the people they welcome.

Then he opens Psalm 41 and asks a simple question: how can the person who cares for the poor be blessed, with all the worries that this brings?

Outline of the Message

1. Who Is the Poor Person in the Bible?

• The Hebrew word translated "poor" describes someone thin: a person who is starving, who does not have enough to eat, who lacks daily bread.
• "Basic poverty in the Bible is being without enough to eat properly."
• David's words sound like those of Jesus: "But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; and you will be blessed, because they don't have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous" (Luke 14:13-14).
• It is also the poor man in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, who longed to be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the rich man's table (Luke 16:19-31).

2. Caring for the Poor Brings Worry

• It is neither easy nor obvious. "It can even be a little frightening," because facing poverty hurts the heart: nobody deserves it.
• At Solidarité, the team sees it every week: families sleeping in tents where rats come in at night. One person was bitten under the eye while asleep and had to be vaccinated against rabies.
• Others have been living for more than a year in a borrowed garage. A family of six has been sleeping in a car for a long time, almost two years.
• This concern saddens, weighs on you and often brings guilt, with a feeling of helplessness or of not doing enough. It also stirs up anger. It demands personal sacrifices and commitments that those around you do not always understand.
• "Caring about the poor also means agreeing to bind myself personally to someone else's problem without knowing where it will lead me."

3. God Stands at the Right Hand of the Poor

• David was a king. He had plenty of other concerns: the security of his borders, peace with his neighbors, the economy, social order. "But David loves and knows God." He knows that God loves the poor and holds people accountable for them.
• "For Yahweh hears the needy" (Psalm 69:33). Even stronger: "he will stand at the right hand of the needy" (Psalm 109:31). The right hand of a king is the place of honor, and Jesus sits at the right hand of God. Here, it is God who takes his place at the right hand of the poor: "God who raises the poor higher than the king and higher than himself."
• Helping the poor is a commandment: "For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land’" (Deuteronomy 15:11). "You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him" (Deuteronomy 15:10).
• Failing to help them, God regards as sin: "lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin to you" (Deuteronomy 24:15). And God makes it clear: whether he is one of your brothers or one of the foreigners living in your land (Deuteronomy 24:14).
• That is why, according to the pastor, David cries out in verse 4: "Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you." He sees the poor among his people and knows that this is a lack of love for his neighbor.
• David remembers that his mission as king is to bring justice to the afflicted and to save the children of the needy (Psalm 72:4). For God wants life and happiness for every human being: this is the promise made to Abraham, through whom "all the families of the earth will be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).
• He also remembers the stern warning the priests had to proclaim: "Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow," and all the people answered "Amen" (Deuteronomy 27:19).

4. Care for the Poor at the Heart of Jesus' Life

• The healings of the sick, the blind and the lame are always also healings of the poor.
• The question of the poor is at the heart of his encounters with the rich young man, with Zacchaeus, and with the poor widow who gave her two small coins at the temple (Mark 12:41-44).
• It runs through his parables: the rich man and Lazarus, the good Samaritan, the guests at the banquet of the kingdom.
• It runs through his teaching: "But when you do merciful deeds, don't let your left hand know what your right hand does" (Matthew 6:3); "for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat" (Matthew 25:35).

5. First Reason to Be Blessed: You Draw Closer to God

• Why does caring for the poor make you blessed? For the pastor, this is the fundamental question of the psalm.
• The one who cares for the poor is close to God. He understands more deeply God's grace, his mercy, the love of the God who stands at the right hand of the poor. He enters more deeply into personal communion with him.
• He understands Jesus better in his love for the little ones, the salvation of the cross and what is at stake in the kingdom. He sees that Jesus is God with us, God made man to save us.
• He builds a heart of mercy like God's. He learns compassion and recognizes every human being at their true worth, "without the trappings of social position or so-called power."
• "He becomes free, free with the freedom of the children of God," free to love his neighbor as Jesus did, as himself.

6. Second Reason: You Learn True Humanity

• The one who cares for the poor learns to put strength and weakness in perspective. He learns to let go of himself, of his ego and his personal interests.
• He enters into the essence of human life: humility before his neighbor. This humility makes solidarity and sharing possible, touches hearts and opens the way to true friendships.
• These friendships make him happy, because they alone fill human life with meaning and joy.
• He also becomes a peacemaker, "for poverty leads to violence and friendship to peace."

7. Third Reason: You Receive Grace Yourself

• By communing with God's grace, the one who cares for the poor is nourished and inhabited by it. He receives it for himself.
• He is happy to feel so loved by God. He understands that in Jesus, God has bound his own existence to his: "In Jesus, God chose not to exist without him." This is the whole meaning of the cross and of the covenant.
• He can move forward with full confidence, knowing that nothing will be able to separate him from the love of God in Jesus his Savior (Romans 8:38-39).
• He is doubly free: free to welcome everyone in their own truth, and free because he no longer fears tomorrow. In every circumstance he can say: "Lord, I know that you love me."

Key Takeaways

• In the Bible, the poor person is first of all someone who does not have enough to eat properly.
• Caring for the poor brings worry: it means agreeing to bind yourself to someone else's problem without knowing where it leads.
• God stands at the right hand of the poor. Helping the poor, whether a brother or a foreigner, is a commandment for him.
• Care for the poor runs through Jesus' healings, encounters, parables and teaching.
• The one who cares for the poor is blessed: he draws closer to God, learns humility and friendship, and receives grace himself.

Personal Application

1. Who is the "poor person" closest to you right now, in your neighborhood, your church or your city?
2. What holds you back from binding yourself to someone else's problem: fear, a sense of helplessness, guilt?
3. How does the fact that God stands at the right hand of the poor change the way you see people in hardship?
4. What part can you take this week: time, a gift, a prayer for those who serve the poorest?
5. Can you say today, in every circumstance: "Lord, I know that you love me"?

Verses Quoted

• Psalm 41
• Luke 14:13-14
• Luke 16:19-31
• Psalm 69:33
• Psalm 109:31
• Deuteronomy 15:7-11
• Deuteronomy 24:14-15
• Psalm 72:4
• Genesis 12:3
• Deuteronomy 27:19
• Mark 12:41-44
• Matthew 6:3
• Matthew 25:35
• Romans 8:38-39

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the poor person Psalm 41 talks about?

Pierre-Emmanuel Panis explains that the Hebrew word describes someone thin, who is starving and lacks daily bread. In the Bible, basic poverty means not having enough to eat properly, like Lazarus, who longed to be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the rich man's table.

What does "Yahweh stands at the right hand of the poor" mean?

To stand at the right hand of a king is to hold the place of honor. In Psalm 109, it is God himself who chooses to stand at the right hand of the poor. For the preacher, God thus raises the poor higher than the king and higher than himself.

Why is the person who cares for the poor blessed?

The preacher gives three reasons: he draws closer to God and understands his grace better, he learns true humanity made of humility and friendship, and he receives that grace himself. He then knows that nothing will be able to separate him from the love of God, and he no longer fears tomorrow.